Insensible Ramblings
by KhAeL
Summary: Series of drabbles of Tadashi being a dork. Tadashi has always been the calm, sensible one in the group. But everyone always found it funny whenever he's around girls he likes. Tadashi X OC. Will be labeled "Complete" since I have no idea when I can update next. Enjoy!
1. Their Meeting

The first test did NOT go as expected.

Tadashi sighed as he tirelessly tinkered with the prototype's mechanical voice box. '_Well what did I expect?'_, he thought, _'No test ever went right the first time, why's this one any different? I just have to keep trying.' _Tadashi Hamada was like any other student in San Fransokyo Tech in their first week of testing: anxious, jittery and a good way towards sleep-deprived. As he continued working on his machine, explosions, yelps and crashes could be heard on the other side of the divider has his friends continued their tests on their projects that morning.

Chuckling at hearing Wasabi's unintentional girlish shriek and everyone's laughter, Tadashi made a few more turns with the wrench and readied himself to re-attatch the voice box. It was an idealistic and crudely vague dream, "to help a lot of people", and he didn't blame the other students when they looked at him weirdly when he was asked about it in class. But it was what he wanted to do, what he wanted to create and help make the world better. '_It's what mom and dad would've wanted.'_

After attatching the part, Tadashi was ready for a second test when Professor Callaghan, his adviser and mentor, came in knocking. "Tadashi, are you busy?" Turning to his professor, the young man beamed, "Professor Cal! Didn't think you'd be at the lab today. I was just about to run a second test, it would be great to get your input while you're here.", Tadashi said. Other than noticing his professor's knowing smile, he also noticed a queer buzz from the other side of the divider. It wasn't the typical screaming and cursing he was used to hearing while his friends were working, which was odd.

"That sounds wonderful, son, but I'd first like to introduce you to somebody.", Callaghan said gesturing to someone in the other side of the room. A young lady walked in, around the same age as he and his friends, long dark hair pulled back in a bun by a dainty scrunchie, short and willowy with pink rosy cheeks, a nervous smile and, to Tadashi, she was _gorgeous_.

"Tadashi, this is Lily Huang." Calaghan started, already noticing the look on his student's face, "Lily, this is Tadashi Hamada, the student I was talking to you about."

"Hi." Lily smiled with a small wave.

_'Wow..'_, he thought with an unconsciously dopey smile. Noticing Lily's smile fade into a look of concern, Tadashi thoght,_ 'Crap, idiot, say something!'_

"Uh, hi, Lily!" He said somewhat too enthusiastically, "I'm Tadashi haha..."

"Pfft!" He heard his friends hold back giggles as they hid behind their professor. '_Ugh, great!'_, Tadashi mentally slapped himself.

"Tadashi," Professor Callaghan said, holding a smirk Tadashi definitely couldn't miss, "Lily here will be the consultant you asked me about for your project this year. She was the only one in her class who agreed to help us so you better treat her well, alright?" The professor ended, firmly emphasizing the last five words.

"Uh, yeah! Definitely! Yeah!" Tadashi quicky said, stiffly holding out his hand, "I look forward to working with you!"

Lily eventually smiled and lightly grasped his own with her smaller one, "I'll be in your care, Tadashi."


	2. Bad Timings

Having a clique in college was pretty big deal, if you think about it. Be they the people that bring someone up or down, they'll most probably be the ones that define them the most, even after graduation, presuming one even gets to graduate.

For Tadashi, meeting his current group of friends in their first year was definitely a blessing in disguise. Believe it or not, Fred was easily his least favorite person back then, always hovering around the lab, not particularly doing anything while he worked his ass off to try and actually achieve something. He then met Wasabi in class. Each earning an Outstanding Freshman award, the two continued to compete on who gets to be the better student for a good two years. Gogo and Honey Lemon were already close friends when he met them, the former being his first year crush before they all got together.

They put him in a lot of tight situations, from breaking in to the senior's lab to get their hands on the latest parts to building a rocket that could fly them high enough to get to the floating blimps for the best view, but they also got him out of them in a fun, occasionally life-threatening way which was also nice.

Being with these group of people for as long as he had makes one more or less an expert on their ins and outs and that sentiment definitely goes both ways.

"Aww look at that sad face, Gogo, isn't he cute?" Honey Lemon cooed, taking a quick but blurred photo of her harrumphing friend with her smartphone.

"Uhh Yeah hi, I'm Tadashi durr hurr." Gogo snickered in reply with a fake, horribly low, male voice.

"I do _not_ sound like that." Tadashi humphed as he briskly walked towards the lab.

Flanked by Wasabi and Honey Lemon to his left and Fred and Gogo to his right, Tadashi groaned as the onslaught of taunts and teases came from his friends as they recalled the quick but horrifyingly embarassing encounter their friend had the other day with their newest acquaintance, Lily Huang.

" 'I look forward to working with you.', he says." Fred drawled, signing a double quote with his fingers, ", more like 'I look forward to checking you out as you walk out the door.', if you know what I'm saying."

Gogo rolled her eyes, "That _is_ what you're saying, Fred."

"Short, cute, obviously from Asian descent. Ticks everything off the 'Girls Tadashi's Into' list, don'tcha think?" Wasabi laughed at his friend's sour look.

Honey Lemon cooed, "Ohh look at him! So cute, so... _affected_."

"I'm not affected!" Tadashi defended, "Alright fine, you know what?" He turned around and faced his friends. Chest out, blazer slightly askew and friends either surprised or heavily amused. "Sure, I think Lily Huang's cute and yes, I have only spoken two literate sentences to her and yeah, I think that thing that she does with her hands when she talks is adorable but is that not enough for you, no!"

After Gogo, the matter of girls wasn't exactly a priority to Tadashi. Sure he found a few batchmates and even some girls in the nearby San Fransokyo University cute but dating was never really an option to him anymore. Unlike Fred who constantly got the groove on for some reason and Wasabi having moves of his own, Tadashi often preferred to only lightly socialize and never really got to the making out part, much to his situational partner's chargin.

His friends often tease him about it, Honey Lemon sometimes being the unintentional leader, but it was only a few rare times that their teasing actually got under his skin. This was one of those few rare times.

"Want me to admit it, fine! I HAVE A CRUSH ON LILY HUANG!" Tadashi yelled, "There, I said it! You happy?"

Being uncharacteristically quiet, his four friends took a synchronized step back. Gogo popped the bubble gum she blew and said, "Very."

"Uhh, hi, Tadashi?"

A voice said from behind him. Tadashi and his friends, before the whole fiasco elevated, were on their way to the, affectionately called, "Nerd Lab" early that morning, receiving the access passes to the main entrance from their professor the other evening.

"I have a presentation to prepare for in the afternoon so I wanted to come in person to postpone our appointment later," Lily started slowly and nervously, noticing the young man's stiff back and his companions' amused and some borderline constipated expressions, ", but it seems I've arrived at a bad time so... uhh... I'll mail you later, then. Bye." Quickly picking up her things from the building's steps, Lily scurried away donning her SFU Medical Department white coat and a bright pink blush on her round cheeks.

After a very long awkward but, to some, hilarious silence, Tadashi appropriately broke it by none too gracefully landing on the stairs muttering, "That did _not_ just happen."


	3. Totally Nerdy

Tadashi was a moderately neat person. Sure he has dirty laundry from yesterday by the hamper and his closet wasn't exactly the best organized part of his room but, to give him some credit, there weren't any rotten pizza slices under the bed, not molds or insects of any kind and the clothes he had on didn't stink like armpit so all in all, Tadashi could say he was doing pretty decent.

True to his personality, his workbench at the lab wasn't much different. A few spare parts lying around, scraps piled up as neatly as he could at the corner and, most importantly, he didn't have to bother anybody else since he always has his tools ready, neatly tucked away in his personal toolbox on the desk.

He wasn't particularly ashamed of his mild untidiness, often inviting his classmates or professors to his working bay to ask for their inputs and advice for his project or to just hang out, which was always nice especially with his view out the large circular window. He's had a ton of people over before, so why, all of a sudden, did he feel so _embarrassed_ when Lily came in for their first consultation session that morning.

"I'm really sorry for the mess, I uhh," Tadashi fumbled, tripping over invisible spare parts, dropping and bumping into a few crates in an unusual hurried effort to quickly clean up, "An assignment! Yeah, I had to do some work the other night so I'm really sorry for the mess-"

Giggling Lily put her hands up to ease the unnecessarily flustered young man. "Tadashi, Tadashi, it's fine, really." She found it endearing, actually, him tripping over nothing like that. She usually wasn't exactly the type worth tripping over nothing for so seeing Tadashi fumble around in an effort to clean up for her was really nice. And she thought he was a definite eye-candy, too, which was a plus.

"I mean, we could move over to the conference room down the hall if you'd like a cleaner place to do the session in. Oh! But I'm not saying you're a neat freak or anything I was just-"

"Tadashi," Lily quieted his rambling with a soft hand on his, a smile and a blush, "It's fine. Your lab looks fine. It's really homey."

Tadashi gulped and managed to croak out a "yeah" before sitting across the medical student on a stool and her on a ledge by the window. _'Very cool, Tadashi. "I'm not saying you're a clean freak"? Really?' _He could hear the gang now. _Laughing at him_.

Lily had to giggle to herself a bit. Don't take her wrong, her heart was beating just as fast his. He was hot, that much she was sure of, undeniably smart and, she guessed, unbearably kind. She never really got that much attention from the opposite sex, being too willowy and naturally slow, she wasn't really a usual target of attraction. She knew she shouldn't be too presumptuous, _'Maybe he's like this with every other girl.'_, she thought. But remembering Tadashi's quick and unexpected outburst the other day at the lab's entrance, it was a nice thought to mull over. He could have just said it to appease his friends but either way, a girl can dream can't she?

"So, let's get started.", Lily smiled reassuringly, hoping to ease his nervousness. Tadashi replied with a nod and a small smile, making her heart skip a beat. Almost stuttering, Lily covered it with a cough and started, "I think a proper introduction would be a good start, then we can proceed from there, is that ok?"

Tadashi took a deep breath and replied with a "sure" being more confident in himself, seeing Lily's apparent blush, despite her efforts of covering it.

"Well, for starters, I'm Lily Huang, but you already knew that," Lily said, both sharing a small chuckle before she continued, "I'm one of the medical students at San Fransokyo University and I met Professor Callaghan while I was working on my dissertation."

The two did a brief introduction before getting to work on Tadashi's project. Apparently, since Tadashi came from a technical department, he found it difficult to access files on the medical procedures he needed to program into Baymax, his planned healthcare robot. Another problem that popped up for him was what exactly did he need to build into Baymax. Mechanisms to enable the robot to assist with first aid were a must, but what else could he build into his project while keeping the design light yet functional?

Tadashi asked Professor Callaghan for his input in this particular problem and the latter suggested he get a consultant and the professor himself would see to it that he'd get a good one.

"...so I thought using carbonmade fiber to coat his exoskeleton using transbond or UV light curing adhesives to bind the internal metals would make an excellent lightweight base in preparation for actuators and sensors to be attached inside-", Tadashi stopped mid-sentence noticing Lily's far-off expression, "I was rambling again, wasn't I?"

"No no! Continue, please! I'm all ears!" Lily semi-shouted, snapping out of her daydream, abruptly sitting upright, feeling horrible at zoning out on Tadashi's speech and instead focused on how lovely his muscles flexed whenever he moved around as he talked. In her defense, she barely understood most of what he just said.

"No, I'm sorry. That was really nerdy, wasn't it?" Tadashi sighed, taking off his cap and running his fingers through his hair, a sight Lily would happily engrave into memory. Feeling even worse after that thought, Lily abruptly stood from her seat on the ledge, startling Tadashi.

"Human pluripotent stem cells, also known as hPSCs, are able to self-renew indefinitely and to differentiate into all adult cell types.", She randomly started, "hPSCs therefore show potential for application to drug screening, disease modelling and cellular therapies. In order to meet this potential, culture conditions must be developed that are consistent, defined, scalable, free of animal products and that facilitate stable self-renewal of hPSCs."

Tadashi, standing slack-jawed, stared at the young lady after her sudden monologue. "Defining Synthetic Surfaces For Human Pluropotent Stem Cell Culture by doctors Lambshead, Meagher, O'Brien and Laslett, first paragraph of the abstract." Lily sheepishly smiled, "Memorized it right out of the research paper. Really nerdy, huh?"

A brief laugh escaping him, Tadashi couldn't help but smile.

"Totally."

* * *

><p><strong>Apologies in advance for any inaccuracy in what either of them just said. I just did a bit of shallow research for this, hopefully it was believable enough.<strong>


	4. Thinking About Him

The Lucky Cat Cafe was largely popular around the block. Mostly families and nearby professionals on their breaks were the regular customers with a few university students here and there in the afternoon. Lily found the place a few weeks ago as she was looking for a good place to work on her dissertation. Having a new Krei Tech construction project happening right outside her door, sounds of jackhammers and cranes weren't at all conducive to a healthy heavy-research environment. The San Fransokyo University library does its job nicely occasionally though but being packed in with other, sometimes, even more stressed out than her students doesn't really provide a feel-good, relaxed ambiance.

Cass, the lively owner of the cafe, was always a welcome face for Lily to have in her times of stress like this one. A month in on her project, she still hadn't managed to properly defend her topic and therefore was enormously behind schedule as compared to everybody else in her class which got her really nervous and jittery this week. So much so that Tadashi had noticed during one of their consultation sessions a few days ago.

"Lily?" Tadashi had asked, waving a hand in front of her face. "Huh? What?" Lily yelped distractedly, clumsily dropping the notebook and papers on her lap. "Easy there," Tadashi chuckled, picking up her things ", I just wanted to get your opinion if building surgical instruments into Baymax's design would be a good idea considering the limits." Noticing her flustered and distracted state, Tadashi kneeled in front of her as she sat on her usual ledge and gave her a look of concern. "You all right? Why don't we end the session early today?" Lily and Tadashi had been working together on his project for around a month or so now and both have more or less gotten used to the other's presence every other morning. That still doesn't change the fact that both still have a few quirks to work out when around the other, though.

"N-no! I'm fine, honest." Lily jokingly cringed at the unconvinced look Tadashi gave her. He was such a mother hen, she realized, remembering seeing how he immediately held her without a second thought and profusely apologized while pressing an ice pack against her knee after she tripped over one of the spare parts on the floor, then instantly started blushing and babbling after realizing how close he got to her. Lily smiled at Tadashi, remembering the memory. "I'm fine, Tadashi, thanks for caring."

Muttering a shy "no problem", Tadashi turned and pretended to tinker with a few parts. "S-so what's gotten you distracted lately? You've been spacing out often." Lily explained to him about the project she was assigned before starting the consultation, how she had to look for a relevant topic and defend its importance before proceeding with the research in front of a panel. So far, she hadn't gotten much luck in selecting anything interesting making her lag behind in class.

Tadashi apparently wouldn't have it. No way would he jeopardize her GPA for helping him work on his project so he "declared a suspension" on their consultation sessions until she catches up. Needless to say, it was really sweet of him to give her more time to work on her project, considering he had his own deadlines to follow-up. Despite being sure that she'd miss seeing Tadashi's easy smile on early Monday mornings, thinking about him really did help her get motivated enough to keep working so Lily was more than grateful for the extra time.

Sitting by her usual table at the back cluttered with research papers, a mug of coffee and a sandwich, Lily got to work on her dissertation. As much as she would've wanted to deny it, a little part of her just couldn't wait to get back to Tadashi's lab and see him. Lily smiled to herself. Maybe a small gift to thank him would be a good idea.


	5. Tadashi-Shaming

**Remember that they're 20 y/o and already in college, kids.**

* * *

><p>It had been a good two weeks since Tadashi "declared the suspension" of his and Lily's consultation sessions in favor of her catching up with her academics. He did do the right thing, which was great, he often told himself, but man was he catching the bad case of the blues.<p>

"Cheer up my love-struck compadre!" Wasabi slung his arm around his friend's unconsciously slumped shoulders. "You know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"Fonder? I-I'm not fonder, I mean, fond of anything specific." Tadashi croaked, blush creeping to his ears. He admitted it to himself a few nights ago the he really did miss seeing Lily in the occasional mornings after all. How she'd insist on sitting on that ledge by the window instead of an actual chair, how she'd snort when she laughed too hard, which he could proudly say that he made her do a few weeks ago doing his very realistic impression of a bubble eye goldfish, and her unexpected clumsiness that he only found out about as he got to know her better.

The gang, hearing their friend's signature embarrassed rambling, gravitated towards Wasabi's side of the lab where all the ruckus was coming from. Tadashi's friends were an inquisitive bunch, both in their academics and in their personal lives, so they were pretty good at detecting a so-asking-for-it opportunity for Tadashi-shaming.

"Getting all flustered there, Tada-kins. Thinking of someone specific, hmm?" Honey Lemon slinked into the circle, Gogo and Fred blocking Tadashi's way to freedom. "C'mon guys, cut it out!" Tadashi groaned, blush spreading down his neck. He's always known about his friends' tendency to pick on him specifically when it came to these kinds of things, especially when they found out he had a crush on Gogo a few years ago which started all the teasing, he was just _horrible_ at avoiding them.

"No shame in missing your girl, my man." Fred drawled, draping his arm over Wasabi's arm on Tadashi's shoulders. "I-pfft.. wa..my-" Tadashi gaped incomprehensively, sounds coming out of his mouth in bursts. To everyone else, this was hillarious, Honey Lemon already recording everything on her smartphone, to Tadashi, the experience was undeniably horrifying, as per similar previous instances.

"I mean, have you even womanned up and told her you liked her?" Gogo raised a brow. "God, I could just feel that dumb dopy look on your face from a mile away when you look at her." Gogo thought Tadashi was hot, she wasn't blind. Admittedly she did eventually have a small crush on him sometime in their third year because of all their friend's teasing and Tadashi being plainly adorable about it but she never really took action.

He was a doll, and a great friend, no questions there, but Gogo knew things wouldn't work out between them, if it ever happened. She was happy with what they had and how things were in their friendship so eventually the crush was replaced with respect, a mutual transition of feelings both shared, no doubt.

Tadashi squirmed, "I.. NO.. I'm mean, not that I don't want to.. it's just.."

"That you feel sorry for your own lame ass?"

"You've got issues with commitment?"

"Or doubts in your sexual identity!"

"Fear of the vagina!"

"WHAT? NO! SHUT UP!" Tadashi yelled, breaking free of Wasabi and Fred's hold, squirming out of the tight circle of interrogating friends while tripping on tools and scrap metal lying around along the way. "Just-just...", Tadashi opened his mouth, not really saying anything, only a few incomprehensible sounds coming out of it paired with elaborate hand gestures. "Leave me alone!" , he finally huffed, shutting the door to his division of the lab, "And don't leave things on the ground, somebody could get hurt!" His friends heard him say from the inside.

"Well he's got it bad." Fred smirked, follwed by a chourous or "yeah"s and "yup"s from the group.


	6. Something Worthwhile

The members of the Hamada household were mostly morning people. Not because they want to be, case en point for Tadashi's younger brother, Hiro, but because they have to be. The head of the household, Cass Hamada, owned and managed one of San Fransokyo's most popular cafe and bakery, The Lucky Cat Cafe, and it was up to the men of the household, Tadashi and Hiro, to wake up early and help their aunt set up shop before the regular employees arrived for the morning shift.

Having two robotics geniuses under her roof, one would think Cass Hamada had automated everything in their commercial home. On the contrary, other than her nephews' occasional projects lying around, not a spot of advanced robotics could be found in the household. Cass didn't have anything against robotics, she supported it even, seeing what good her nephews can do with it. She just didn't want a repeat of "the kitchen incident" with Tadashi a few years back, and she just preferred to do things the old fashioned way, is all.

First thing in the morning, Aunt Cass would be busy in the kitchen, cooking up a good healthy breakfast for her two growing boys while the youngest of the two brothers would be outside, often grudgingly, unlocking doors and unhooking shutters that were put down the night before. Tadashi's station every morning would be the cafe floor, quickly mopping up any grime they missed when cleaning up the night before and setting down the overturned tables for storage back into their places on the cafe floor.

By the time they finish eating breakfast, a thin stream of customers would already be in the cafe with the morning shift's employees starting work for the day.

Lily just _had_ to get out of her house if she wanted anything done that day. The Krei Tech construction was just getting bigger and bigger everyday and "bigger" always means "noisier". Already in the middle of her third week of "declared suspension", Lily had been itching to see Tadashi again so she was working later every night and earlier every morning if she wanted to finish her proposal.

In her rush to get into the cafe, research papers and her laptop in hand, she had missed seeing a mop of dark hair running right at her. "Oof!", both grunted on collision. "Hey, watch where you're going, lady..." Hiro grunted, feeling dizzy for a bit. "Well it was _you_ who bumped into _me_.", Lily muttered, blinking.

"_Excuse me_ then." Lily would've thought the boy was a little bit too snarky for his age, if not for the hand he offered her to help her up. "Thanks." She said with a tight smile. He was short, well, a few inches shorter than her, at least, a mop of dark, thick hair on top of his head and a surprisingly easy smile on his face that she was _so sure_ she had seen before.

"Hiro! You alright there, buddy?" A muffled voice from inside the cafe called out as it's owner made his way to them.

"Tadashi?" Lily gaped as he arrived.

"Lily?"

The pair found themselves sitting across each other at Lily's usual spot inside the cafe. Tadashi usually leaves early for school to get to work in his lab most mornings and only comes back in the late evenings, so seeing the cafe midday all lively and whatnot was always a sight to him, never really seeing it as often this way since he started college. "So all this time, you've been hanging here? Who would've thought." Tadashi chuckled. "I know right?" Lily couldn't help but smile ear-to-ear. Had she known she would be _this_ happy to see him again, she would've gone back to the lab sooner. "How's Baymax doing? You were having trouble with keeping the hydrogen peroxide sterilized while inside his system, did you figure that out?" As time went by while working on Tadashi's project, he and Lily had started referring to Baymax as a "him" now. Be it unintentional or not, both felt just right about giving the exoskeleton a human pronoun so neither decided to change that.

Tadashi felt elated that Lily still took the time to think about his project despite being so busy herself. The fact that she sometimes researches about robotics for him, just so she could keep up was really sweet, he thought as he enthusiastically raved about his new breakthroughs on the project. Unlike before, Tadashi rarely apologizes for rattling about his interests now, which was a good sign, Lily thought. True she could barely keep up with him at times but she truly genuinely was interested in his newest discoveries, them being new pieces of information that opened new doors for her. Who knew biomedical engineering had advanced so much that even she still hadn't known about the advancement of prosthetic and prosthesis care and manufacturing? Who knew soft robotics was where the medical care bots originated from and was the inspiration for Baymax's design? If she hadn't met Tadashi, she would be clueless about the latest technology used even in her own field of study.

"Wait." Lily muttered.

"Hm? You said something?" Tadashi stopped mid-sentence.

"That's it."

"What's it?"

Lily jumped hitting her knee on the table's sharp edge, almost spilling the coffee on her table if not for Tadashi frantically grabbing the mug before it spilled. "Ow ow ow ow ow." Lily cringed, nursing her already bruising knee. "You okay?" Tadashi stood, walking over to her side of the table. "If Baymax were here right now, he'd activate, scan you and patch this up nice and easy. Well, theoretically anyway. Stay put while I get an ice pack."

"No need. Got one right here." A female voice from behind him said.

Cass handed her nephew said ice pack while holding a tray of dirty dishes on her other hand. "Thanks, Aunt Cass." Tadashi smiled, gingerly placing the ice pack on Lily's bruising knee. "You must be Lily!" Aunt Cass gushed, "I've heard _so much_ about you from T-"

"PROFESSOR Callaghan!" Tadashi abruptly stood, using his build to block his aunt's view of his friend and vice versa, "Yeah, the professor and my aunt go way back." Unconvincingly making unfathomable facial expressions to signal his aunt to _please not __embarrass_ him now as his back was to Lily.

Cass, only just getting her nephew's efforts after a good minute, wore a face of realization, "O-Ooooh! Yeah, that's right! Good ol' Cal." Stiffly giving Lily a wave, she gave her nephew a badly hidden wink making Tadashi wish he'd just disappear in a hole while Lily just sincerely enjoyed the show. "Yup, known him since elementary school ha ha. Oh! Did you hear that? Need to go back to the counter, busy boss and all! You two play nice now!" Singing the last part, Cass walked away from the pair giving, again, another badly hidden thumbs-up for her nephew. Tadashi groaned.

"She seems nice." Lily laughed. Tadashi still had his face hidden under his hat making her giggle again. "Your brother seemed nice, too. You have a good family, Tadashi." Lily said sincerely, keeping her hand on the ice pack against her knee. "Yup, they're the best." He sighed fondly, making his way back to his seat across her, "Sometimes _the_ best." He said, grimacing yet waving back at his aunt across the counter trying to give him her "support" whilst badly trying to hide her hand signals.

Hearing a bout of laughter coming from his companion made him smile though. "You know, this is the second time you've had an ice pack over that knee on that specific spot. I think you need Baymax more than everyone else.", he joked. "Very funny, Mr. Robotics Genuis." Lily chuckled, unconsciously leaning towards the young man, "I bet you've tripped a lot more times this week than I ever did in my whole life."

"Oh really?" Tadashi raised a brow, mirroring her movement.

"Wanna bet on it?"

"Hmm, not really my type."

"But you are."

Lily just stopped, realizing what she had just said, and zeroed in on their proximity, Tadashi doing the same thing much later. Both darting back to their previous postures on their chairs, Tadashi coughed, trying to cover his creeping blush while Lily nervously played with her hair, mentally berating herself for her slip of the tongue a few seconds ago.

"So umm... ahem..." Tadashi broke the silence, looking at his companion through the corner of his eye, "What were you so hyped about a while ago? "Before... uhh... you know." Flushes deepening on both at the mention of the incident that just passed.

"W-well..." Lily started with a small smile, "I think I've finally found out what my dissertation will be all about."


	7. Delicate Laughter

After the "declared suspension" was "officially uplifted" the pair immediately got back to work in Tadashi's lab. Lily, after a week of research and revisions, managed to make a good profile for her project proposal, Advantages of the Application of Advanced Robotics in Medical Processes. It was a risky move, both knew, with Lily still being so new to the whole concept of robotics, but that didn't put her off even the slightest bit. Actually, Tadashi could say it made her work even twice as hard.

"Whoa, easy there!" Tadashi dodged a tall, unstable, moving stack of books and things making it's way to her favorite side of his lab. Under it all, he found a small, struggling, but undeniably adorable Lily Huang carrying a few more stacks like it into his lab. "What is all this?", Tadashi asked, not helping the smile escaping his lips. Lily was surrounded by books, papers, laptops, even a few of his old designs. Not that she looked out of place, on the contrary, Tadashi quite liked the way how she just fit in and made herself feel right at home as he watched her take out a purple pillow from under one pile and used it as a cushion as she sat down on her favorite ledge.

"I'm nesting!" She chirped, a happy buzz surrounding her. "Nesting?" Tadashi laughed, complying with Lily's gesture to sit next to her. "I've already talked to Professor Callaghan yesterday. Since I'm your consultant and all, I've got the same clearance to move around here as you guys!" Lily said excitedly making Tadashi's look soften ", and since we'll be working on both of our projects together I just thought that it'd be easier for us..to just... oh my god.." Lily gasped quickly standing and clumsily tripping on one of the boxes, landing on her behind. "Lily! You okay?"

Lily looked horrified making Tadashi even more confused. "Tadashi! I'm SO sorry!", she said hands covering her mouth, "I did it again, didn't I? Going over my head, not even asking you. I'm so SO sorry!" Tadashi kneeled to her level, moving the offending box aside and grasping her hand in his own. "Lily, what are you talking about?" Gesturing to the things around them, "This!", Lily said alarmed, "Taking your old designs, bringing in my stuff, messing up your lab, everything! It was so inconsiderate of me, I'm so sorry!" He could literally see her lip quivering and eyes watering. In a bout of sudden wickedness, Tadashi mulled over pretending to actually be mad at her, just to find out what kind of reaction he could get from it. Looking at her reddening cheeks, he thought against it. "Hey hey, it's okay. I wanted to ask you to do the same thing anyways, much easier for you and me, yeah?" Her hands were soft, a little sweaty, yeah, but so was his. He had noticed her take a few things from his desk and tape them up on a make-shift bulletin board she made as she started carting in a few of her things, she was just buzzing with happiness and excitement, greeting him with a beautifully bright "Good morning, Tadashi!" when he came in, he just didn't have the heart to stop her. Not that he could tell her all that, thought.

"Are you sure? I mean I know I'm not the best lab partner to have and you know I've got really weird quirks and I'm clumsy and-"

"Lily. It's fine, really. I kinda like the fact of having you here more often anyway." Tadashi smiled, "It seems like we've switched places somehow this time."

After a while, Lily sighed. "Yeah."

Both smiling, a light pink dusting their cheeks and hands intertwined, it felt like the world stopped just for them for a while.

"Hey Tadashi! Gogo wanted your help with-" Fred walked in, the world apparently not stopping for them long enough. Seeing the startled pair in the not so compromising but questionable position either way, he smirked, "... Tadashi, my _man_. Didn't think you'd be such a tiger. Rawrr."

The pair, turning red as a tomato, scrambled to get up, slipping on a few papers scattered on the floor with Tadashi still doing his best to help Lily up.

"We were just uhh-"

"I-It's not what it looks like! Tadashi was just helping me with..."

"Work! Yeah, work! We were working out on which stuff should go where!"

"Yeah! That's right!"

Fred, still looking as smug as ever, opened the door wider revealing the gang who apparently were listening in since the commotion started. "Ugh! Guys!" Tadashi groaned, tilting his cap far enough to cover his face. "Tadashi was just helping me move in, that's all!", Lily squeaked. "Geez you two, you're acting like we caught you having wild sex at the mall." Gogo smirked, leaning on the door frame. "They might as well, considering the googly eyes they were just giving each other." Wasabi laughed, "What'll it be? Condoms? Lube? Birth control?"

"GUYS!" Tadashi gasped, trying to get the gang out of the room by pushing the door against them, "Gogo, I'll be right over, I promise."

"Oh don't worry about me, take aaall the time you need." Gogo drawled, winking at Tadashi, making him breathe another exasperated sigh. "Take care of him, Lily!" Honey Lemon said, quickly squeezing in between Fred and Wasabi, "Tadashi's _very delicate_!" With one last large push, Tadashi managed to get everyone out of the room, resting his back against the door.

Tadashi sighed, taking off his cap and roughly running his hands through his hair. "Sorry.", he heard Lily mutter from her spot farther into the room. Lightly smiling, he walked over to her putting things back in their place as he went, Lily following suit. "It's fine. They've been picking on me for years, all in good fun.", he said, helping her hook up both her laptops, "It's how I know they've got my back, I guess."

"They were really nice when I came in this morning." Lily supplied, giving him an uneasy smile and a light blush still dusting her cheeks. "I guess I'll be seeing more of them while I'm here, huh?" The two researchers shared a small laugh, stepping back and giving Lily's new den an appreciative once-over.

"Looks pretty good." Tadashi nodded with approval.

Lily grinned, poking him in the cheek, "All thanks to you."

Not helping the smile spreading on his lips, Tadashi laughed, poking her back in the nose. He's been doing that a lot lately. Laughing. He liked that.

"So..." Lily slurred with a mischievous grin, "you're _delicate_, huh?"

"UGHH! HONEY LEMON!"


	8. Implied Consent

Lily never really met her mother. Sure she's seen some pictures and heard some stories from her dad, even watched a few home videos of her from way back when, but she never got to meet her. Lily's mother died giving birth to her. She wasn't the healthiest woman on the planet, her dad said, but was definitely the spunkiest. Since then, it had always just been her and her dad living in their small two-story home, now right beside a Krei Tech construction site. Andrew Huang was a bulk of a man and, being San Fransokyo's Chief of Police, always wore and unintentional scowl.

Andrew had to go out of the house that night, hearing about an illegal bot fight happening in his neighborhood. He wanted to go and assist with apprehending the criminals himself and so, giving a kiss to Lily's forehead and a promise to be back before it got too dark, he left.

Lily and her dad were close. He always did his best to raise his daughter right, even without his wife being physically there. A lot of awkward moments happened between the father-daughter duo, especially when it came to the birds and the bees and her menstrual cycle, but Lily knew her dad was doing what he could and she was grateful for that. She had told him about her crush on this boy she was assigned to consult for his project. Abeit not too open with all the details, Lily always made it a point to try and tell her dad about the general things she got to experience at school.

"You sure? You're not really the sporty type." Lily smiled, sending her reply to Tadashi's text.

The pair had exchanged numbers ages ago but never really got to casually texting each other up until recently.

"Babe, you don't know the half of it. For your information, I snowboard."

Tadashi was surprisingly quite the flirt in their texts and chats, occasionally calling Lily "babe" or "hon" for fun in their conversations. It surprised her at first but after imagining him saying those lines to her face in person, they just made her laugh, snort and blush immaturely.

"Oh really? I'll believe it when I see it." She smiled, pressing the send button. Lily heard sirens pass by outside her home remembering the alleged illegal bot fight happening nearby.

A few months since Lily and Tadashi started working on their dissertation and Baymax respectively, Hiro had graduated high school early, which surprised her and her father more than it did Tadashi and Aunt Cass. He was already scheduled to take all his final exams earlier that year, Tadashi had explained, so it made sense Hiro chose to graduate earlier than everyone else.

"Are you asking me out on a date, Ms. Huang?"

"Are _you_, Mr. Hamada?"

Lily laughed at their antics. Both of them had already, by then, established a mutual attraction to each other. Neither, though, had, in Gogo's terms, "womanned up" to tell the other straight in the face, which was both entertaining and frustrating for the gang and the pair themselves.

Hearing a scuffle outside, Lily made her way downstairs and out the door. She was greeted by flashing light of blue and red and a familiar mop of black hair being shoved into one of the police cars. "Hiro?", she called out. "Huh?", she heard a voice squawk before hearing a car door shut. "Wait! He's with me!" Lily scrambled to get to the car before they carted Hiro away.

Eventually, Hiro found himself not in jail, thankfully, but admittedly in a much scarier place. "What is a fourteen year old doing bot fighting?! Are you insane?!" Lily fumed, standing in front of the boy in her living room. "I mean, bot fighting is okay but _betting_ on it?" Hiro squirmed. He'd only ever talked to Lily a few times after crashing into her that morning, sometimes to serve her order or to just pick on her sometimes whenever he sees her reading a robotics textbook, never really a proper conversation. "Look at me, Hiro." Lily lifted a brow, waiting the youth to acknowledge her rant.

"Look, I'm sorry okay?" He pulled the best puppy dog face he could muster, "Just... don't tell my brother? Please?"

Looking at the boy straight in the eye, Lily softened after a while and sighed. "Just promise me that you'll look after yourself." She sat beside him, patting him in the head. Looking as innocently at her as possible Hiro replied, "Absolutely."

_'He is so going bot fighting again.'_, Lily thought with a sigh.

"Filed all the papers and incident dismissed. For now." Lily's father came back in giving the boy a pointed look, honestly intimidating Hiro. "Thanks, Dad." Lily smiled hearing her father grunt and make his way into the kitchen. "Sooo... you're **not** going to tell my brother." Hiro drawled after a few seconds of silence, "Just to make everything clear." Hiro pretty much figured out that Tadashi liked her, remembering those nights he could hear his goofball of a brother chuckling to himself alone, looking at his phone. How he knew who exactly he was texting was a whole different story.

"No.", Lily replied, "But I **am** calling him to pick you up and take you home so you can't run off to another bot fight tonight."

"Aww, man!" Hiro wailed, flopping down on the couch hearing Lily chuckle and give him another pat on the head as she dialed Tadashi.

The house was pretty old, Hiro noticed. A few pictures here and there, most of Lily and her dad. Was he divorced, maybe? Hiro shrugged, helping himself to the plate of cookies and juice Lily set down for him as she talked to his brother.

"Yeah, he's fine. Eating a plate of cookies and drinking juice, happy and healthy." Lily smiled, seeing Hiro scarf down the pastries her dad made earlier today, "What was he doing in this side of town? Well..."

Hiro perked up, crumbs around the corner of his mouth. As Hiro pressed his palms together and mouthed a "please", Lily smiled, "He just wanted to walk around, get some exercise. Bumped into him at the nearby park and decided to treat him, sorry for keeping him." she smoothly said, almost laughing at Hiro's goofy grin and mouthing him a "you owe me" with a playful wink.

"He'll be here when you get here. See you, Tadashi."

True enough, after a few short minutes, Andrew Huang opened the door to find a certain Tadashi Hamada just about to ring their door bell. "Tadashi Hamada?" He called, stepping outside, in the deepest, most intimidating voice he could muster.

"Y-yeah." Tadashi said frazzled, feeling the hair at the back of his neck stand. "G-good evening, sir! You must be L-Lily's dad." Coughing loudly to calm his nerves, he counted his steps towards, hopefully avoidable, annihilation. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, sir."

"Hm, likewise." Andrew Huang replied unconvincingly, secretly enjoying seeing the young man excessively perspire in front of him. "U-um, I heard my brother's in there? Thank you for taking care of him.", Tadashi cringed at his stuttering, coughing again to get himself under control.

He looked like a good kid, Andrew thought. Two helmets at the ready by the moped, vehicle clear of any dents or any signs of reckless driving, a clean hair cut, hmm. The man stood staring at Tadashi, silently assessing him and hoping to find any hideous flaws, making the object of his criticism totally uncomfortable.

"Tadashi?" A voice said from one of the second floor windows. _'My angel.'_ Tadashi smiled, "Lily!"

"Hold on, we'll be right down.", she said smiling down at him, "Stay put and don't eat him, Dad!"

"I'll try." The man grumbled, making Tadashi gulp.

After a few more agonizing minutes for Tadashi, Hiro burst out the door, closely followed by a giggling Lily. "Thanks, Lily! The snacks were killer!" Hiro grinned, walking backwards towards his brother. "Oh you don't need to thank me for that." Lily smirked, gesturing to her father. Tadashi not quite getting his brother's stupor and Lily's stiffling laughter, he just had to conclude that whatever Hiro was going to say after this point won't be good for either of them.

"No fucking w-"

"OKAY!" Tadashi semi-yelled, pushing his brother towards where he parked his moped and clumsily shoving his spare helmet on him, "Thanks a bunch for taking care of my brother for me, Lily, sorry if he caused any trouble for you."

"Not at all, he was just a _doll_." Lily chuckled seeing Hiro playfully stick his tongue out at her. "I'll see you at the lab tomorrow, Tadashi."

"... yeah," Tadashi smiled, sharing a look with Lily but immediately catching himself, "I m-mean, Yeah! Yeah, i-it was nice to meet you, Mr. Huang!"

Tadashi gulped again, hearing the man's non-committal grunt making him hurriedly try to turn on the engine faster. Hiro snickered. "You are _so_ dead, knucklehead.", Tadashi grumbled, finally managing to turn the blasted engine on.

Seeing the pair drive away whilst arguing, Lily had to laugh a bit as she closed the door after her dad. "Don't stay out too late this weekend, princess." She heard her dad grunt before walking back to the kitchen.

"What was that, Dad?" Lily followed after him, barely hearing what he just said.

"Make sure you wear that dingy spare helmet right, you hear?"


	9. Ups and Downs

**A shoutout to user Miazaki-san for creating fanart for this fanfic. I was pleasantly surprised that this specific story warranted such praise so thank you! Links to the works are in my profile.**

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><p>"Hello! I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion."<p>

Tadashi sighed. So far, things were going good with his project with Baymax's development going on schedule. He had managed to build in the essentials into Baymax's design but there was still a whole load of kinks to figure out. It worried him that maybe he wouldn't finish in time.

"Knock knock." Lily chimed as she entered the lab.

Tadashi smiled, holding up his arm for Lily to fit by his side, "Hey, g'morning!"

The two had gone closer over the few more weeks they worked together on their respective projects. Add in the usual texts, chats and e-mails despite seeing each other in person almost every day, it was pretty hard not to conclude the best had happened between the two nerds.

"He looks good. Hi, Baymax!" Lily grinned, squeezing Tadashi's side as he rested his arm over her shoulder. It felt right with her there.

Tadashi found out that Lily had a soft spot for his project, Baymax. It would be an understatement to say that he had developed an admittedly childish and uncalled for jealousy because of it, but seeing Lily light up whenever Baymax could, in some form or another, respond to her questions and statements made Tadashi work even harder into programming Baymax's intelligence design as best as he could.

"Greetings, Lily. What seems to be the problem?" Baymax still couldn't move around as much as Tadashi wanted him to. Neither could he scan anyone or use his built in apparatuses with any significant precision so, at the moment, Baymax was still an inflated bulk of a robot with part of his program installed. "Nothing, really." Lily smiled wider, making Tadashi's heart swell. "Better leave you to your work then, hm?" she said, squirming out of his hold, giving Baymax a wave with the robot returning one of his own.

Tadashi chuckled before once again hunching over the nearby workdesk to plan the next rig. Across the room, he could hear a faint humming from Lily as she had made herself comfortable by her ledge and started clacking away at her laptop trying to finish her dissertation.

He was never normally a gloomy person, Tadashi reflected, but he's never looked forward to a day as much as he had these past few months. Lily moving into the lab probably had a huge part in that._ 'Lily moving in, huh'_, Tadashi sighed wistfully, _'I like the sound of that.'_

"Watcha smilin' about?"

"Haa!" Tadashi screamed backing away from a mischievously grinning Honey Lemon, "N-nothing! When did you get in here?"

"Just now," she bubbled ", riiiight before you got that look on your face."

Tadashi looked at her suspiciously. "What loo-"

"Lily! You're here!" Honey Lemon chimed, walking over to cuddle Lily, cutting Tadashi off mid-sentence.

The gang adored the willowy girl he brought to the group. Gogo and Honey Lemon immediately took it upon themselves to flank her whenever she decided to walk out of the safety of his lab, considering how clumsy she could be. Lily always enjoyed hanging around with them, especially during the evenings when they all had to stay out late, with Fred being the comedian that he is, scaring Wasabi on purpose just to get that squeal out of him.

As the deadlines got closer and tensions getting higher, time for fun and games in the lab became rarer and rarer. Progress on Baymax's design wasn't going as well as Tadashi would've wanted putting him in a sour mood more often than normal. He was tired, hadn't slept for at least three days if you add all the hours together and extremely frustrated with how stubborn Baymax was being for the past two weeks.

Lily had noticed Tadashi's stress levels getting higher and higher every day. He had snapped at her at least twice that week but she understood how pressured he is with his project right now, with an initial demo happening for everyone in three days before the final one at the showcase. Because of that, she hadn't been working at the lab as often as she had before.

She would drop in in intervals sometimes, bringing everyone a freshly brewed thermos of coffee and a few snacks her dad made, always receiving an eternal echo of gratitude from everyone in the lab. She would sometimes come in in the morning and find Tadashi slumped, snoring and in the same spot she left him the night before, head often on her purple pillow. She would always make it a point to give him just a little extra of whatever she'd bring, hoping it would help somehow.

"Tadashi?" Lily called into the lab that evening. It was pitch black inside ever since a few minutes ago. Wasabi gave her a worried call that evening, telling her Tadashi wouldn't budge from where he sat at the lab. He was alone that night, everyone deciding to take a break from their work for that one evening, Tadashi being the stubborn exception.

"Who's there?" she heard him call out, a beam of light coming from his direction.

"Just me.", she said, stepping in, finding a short-circuited Baymax and an exhausted Tadashi. She gave him a wary smile, "Brought some snacks... and a blanket, among other things."

Tadashi, continued tinkering with Baymax with the flashlight in his mouth. "Uh-huh, Shanks.", he grunted.

Lily looked at Tadashi, then at Baymax. It worried her that he was pushing himself so much, sure this was important above everything else but was it really worth it to risk your health while creating a nurse robot? Very ironic if you ask her.

"Tadashi, I think you should take a break.", she said worriedly, not getting a response from the young man. "You've been at this for days, this isn't good for you. And trust me, future doctor here." Lily laughed dryly, still receiving a negative from her companion.

"Tadashi.", she said more sternly.

"I'm working, Lily.", Tadashi replied, placing the flashlight on the tabletop.

"Please. Just for tonight."

"Lily!"

Tadashi stood, knocking over his toolbox and startling Lily. "I'm trying to work. Please understand!" Tadashi said angrily.

"And please understand that I'm worried about your health!" Lily replied just as heatedly, snapping out of her surprise and crossing her arms.

"The deadline is in three days! THREE DAYS! How do you expect me to finish in time if you keep distracting me?!"

"How do you expect to finish at all if you develop and ulcer before presentation!"

"I can't concentrate while you're here!"

"I can't sleep knowing you're killing yourself!"

"I'm fine!"

"You're not fine! If you were, we wouldn't be having this argument!"

"Lily!"

"Tadashi!"

Standing nose-to-collar, Tadashi and Lily stood stubbornly in front of each other, resulting to a battle of will considering the verbal one bore no fruit. "Seven minutes." Lily grumbled. "Lie down for seven minutes and I'll let you off the hook." Despite all the yells he threw at her, Tadashi still knew Lily just wanted the best for him. He was just so stubborn and tired to think rationally. He sighed, "All right. Seven minutes. After that, I go back to work." Lily smiled triumphantly, "Deal." Receiving a quick kiss on the cheek from Lily, Tadashi couldn't help but smile.

Lily laid out the blanket she brought and sat on top of it, purple pillow in hand. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. I was just... tired." Tadashi sighed, resting his head on the pillow Lily set on her lap. "Uh-huh, thought so." Lily chuckled, running her fingers against Tadashi's scalp, scratching a few spots here an there, getting an appreciative hum from him. "Seriously, I am really sorry.", he mumbled, rubbing his thumb against Lily's free hand. "I know.", she smiled, seeing him slowly drift off. "I'll make it up to you,", he yawned ", I promise..."

"I'm counting on it." Lily smiled, finally seeing Tadashi doze off.

Another month and a half passed for the students with Lily already back at the lab more often than before. Tadashi had been working tirelessly with care on Baymax, already past his 80th or so test. He was excited that morning, elated in fact. _'This is it.'_, he thought, getting ready to run Baymax again.

Lily had been painfully patient with him. The morning after their fight, Tadashi woke up with a fresh mind, well-rested eyes and a very numb, slightly drooling Lily who sat still for the rest of the night to act as his very own human pillow. To say he was touched was an understatement. Ever since he had treated Lily like a princess every single day, taking breaks when she told him to, walking with her whenever she goes out to buy everyone their daily dose of caffeine, taking her home and picking her up everyday on his moped and, most importantly, spending more time to help her with her project.

"Surgical robotics is amazing! Kind of scary though." Lily giggled, typing on her laptop whilst leaning on Tadashi's shoulder. The pair sat by the ledge the other day, finishing up the last few chapters of Lily's dissertation. "Not as amazing as your first robot, though." Tadashi teased, looking at the small, admittedly scary-looking, exoskeleton standing on his workdesk. Lily had managed to understand the basics of robotics while she spent time studying at The Lucky Cat Cafe and, with Hiro's help, managed to hack something simple with some of Tadashi's spare parts. It was a simple bot, playing a "Thank you, Tadashi! You're the best!" recording of Lily's voice once it's sensors were tripped. She surprised him with it a while ago one morning. The robot was still horribly primitive but it made him happy none the less. "Shut up." Lily laughed, elbowing his side.

That morning was scheduled to be Tadashi's eighty-fourth test. He had done everything specifically the night before. Fixed all the bugs in Baymax's program, rewired the circuit to perfection and tweaked a few nuts and bolts just to get that right motion. Now, it was judgement time.

Lily came in late that day, declining Tadashi's offer to pick her up that morning for the first time. Her dad needed help with repairing a few fences at the house after an accident at the Krei Tech construction that took down a part of their small garden. Tadashi, being as sweet as he is, offered to help but Lily's dad declined his offer, knowing Tadashi was looking forward to going back to the lab today. Also hating the thought of being outshined in his daughter's eyes.

Walking in the lab, amongst all the chatter and screams, she couldn't help but notice a particularly familiar cheer coming from Tadashi's partition of the lab. "Knock knock." Lily laughed, seeing Tadashi fist-pumping and dancing embarrassingly by himself on top of one of his workbenches, "What's gotten into you?"

"Lily!", Tadashi bubbled, hopping off the desk then tripping on a rolling stool as he scrambled up to Lily, "My angel, my sunshine!" He cheered, picking up her small form and spinning her in happy circles. "Hey! Hey!" Lily laughed along, Tadashi's cheer contagious. "I did it, Lils! I couldn't have done it without you!" Tadashi cheered again, still jumping around and lifting Lily into the air like a sack of potatoes. Lily couldn't stop laughing as she was now carried bridal style around the lab as Tadashi jumped and spinned almost hitting her against something. "What's going on? What did you do?" She finally said after Tadashi calmed down and/or tired himself out. "I did it! Baymax scanned me!" Tadashi panted, a huge smile still on his face as he held her close to him, "I did it. We did it. We did it, Lils."

Lily chuckled, resting a hand on his cheek as she held on to the back of his shirt with the other, now feeling just as elated as her partner. "Yeah, I guess we did."


	10. Crashed Into Me

**Thank you for all your suggestions! I have listened to all of them and I must say, I've got the best readers in the world. You actually made me cry while listening to them.**

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><p>"C'mooooon! We've been waiting for <em>months<em>!" Gogo leaned against Tadashi's back trying to push him through the door.

The gang, already pretty much done with their respective projects, had recuperated from the week's stress and decided to take the weekend off to hangout with each other and Lily, who also only needed one more chapter to finally finish her dissertation.

"Budge!" Fred, right over Gogo, also pushed against Tadashi's surprisingly sturdy back.

Tadashi held on to the edges of the door frame as tightly as he could while three of his four friends pushed and hissed at him to "get in there". Surprisingly, he had a pretty good grip.

"No! I can't do this!" Tadashi hissed harshly back, tightening his hold and knuckles whitening.

Honey Lemon grunted, shoving one of his shoulders, "When have you been this... ugh!", she switched from using her hands to one of her shoulders to push him, "... sturdy?!"

Only hissing and harshly whispering to each other, they did what they could to keep the noise to a minimum but only ended up causing a curious scene and sporadic bursts of hisses to attract whoever else was in the lab's interest.

"This would all be over if Wasabi wasn't such a ninny and helped out!" Gogo grunted, slipping slightly on the floor whilst trying another shove to push her friend.

"No, no. I vowed a week of non-aggression as advised by my Sifu, so you're on your own guys." Wasabi smiled pressing his palms together after briefly pausing for a pose of meditation.

"Thanks, Wasabi." Tadashi grunted, resisting another push from everyone.

The source of Tadashi's fear actually sat peacefully by the ledge on the window in his partition of the lab interacting lightly with his project and waiting for him to return. Considering the time they had spent together and the obvious pent-up frustration, sexually and emotionally, Tadashi had exhibited the past few days after finishing Baymax's development, the gang decided for him that **now** was the best time he **finally** asked Lily out on a proper date. Tadashi, on the other hand, thought otherwise.

"I can't do it!" Tadashi gripped the door frame tighter. "I-I mean I want to but I can't- oof!", he grunted, resisting another shove.

"Woman up!", Gogo tried to convince him. "She likes you!"

"And you like her too, right?" Honey Lemon chirped from behind him before giving him another big shove.

"'Course I do." Tadashi faltered a bit. Fred, seeing the chance, cried out a mighty wail of "FOR LOVE AND FOR SCIENCE!" before barreling himself full on to Tadashi's shoulder blades, successfully toppling him, and anybody else leaning on him, down to the floor.

"What the fuck, Fred!" Gogo grunted as she and Honey Lemon were helped up by Wasabi.

"Fred The Man at your service, ladies!" Fred grinned, sitting on Tadashi's back, locking his arms behind him.

"Guh! Fred! Let go!" Tadashi squirmed under his weight.

"Not until you yield!" The two young men scuffled and ended up with an ipromptu wresting match, with Fred taking the upper hand considering Tadashi was reluctant to grab him due to his knowledge of his friend's horrible sense of hygiene. "Ow! Watch where you're pulling!" Tadashi grunted, hair being pulled by his opponent.

"Let go of my foot!"

"Let go of **me**!"

"What the heck?" Lily stood dumbstruck beside Honey Lemon as they all watched the fruitless wrestling match happening on the floor. She heard a muffled yell from Fred from the outside as she sat in Tadashi's lab and decided to see what was happening, Baymax following suit.

"Tadashi. I have been alerted to the sound of distress." Baymax broke up the fight by carrying Tadashi's assailant off his struggling form and cradling him in his arms. "Tadashi. You have developed a mild irritation in your scalp." Baymax started, "From a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

The group snickered finding the sight of a startled Tadashi cradled by a large marshmallow in the middle of their lab hilarious. Lily found it endearing, though, that Baymax prioritized his creator over his apparent assailant. _'Tadashi did a wonderful job with Baymax.'_, Lily thought feeling proud.

"Baymax! I'm fine, really. Thank you." Tadashi managed, climbing out of his robot's hold. Hearing a familiar giggle, Tadashi's attention immediately gravitated to Lily as he smiled and automatically lifted his arm for her to fit under.

"Hey.", he said.

"Hey.", she laughed.

"Heyyy." Fred drawled from Tadashi's left, immediately earning him a playful face-shove from his friend and a chuckle.

"You okay there, Fred?" Lily laughed again, making herself comfortable against Tadashi's side. That had been a ritual between them recently. The side-hugging. She couldn't really recall when it started but all Lily knew was that she liked the gesture between them very much and she'd like to think Tadashi thought the same.

After a few pats on Tadashi's back and a bro-fist shared between the previously wrestling friends, everyone suddenly had "something to do" leaving Tadashi, Lily and Baymax alone. The young man breathed, heart beating rapidly. "W-Why don't we go back in the lab for a bit? I've got uhh a few things to pick up." Tadashi said as convincingly as possible.

"Sure." Lily smiled, wriggling out of his hold and grabbed on to Baymax's hand. "C'mon, Baymax, back to your port, you." She said, entering with the squeaking robot and a nervous Tadashi in tow.

It wasn't as if Tadashi didn't want to. He had been thinking about asking her to go out with him since day one. Spending even more time with her just solidified that decision. It was just that fact alone, that they've gone through a lot together and currently have a great thing going on, that scared him. What if he fucks up? He's fucked up tons of things before but this is one of the very few things he couldn't ever ever afford to fuck up. Seeing Lily smile and walk around Baymax in front of him, with the morning sunlight from the large window bouncing against her skin, Tadashi wistfully sighed._ 'I won't fuck up.'_, he thought to himself as he took a step towards them with a little bit more confidence in himself.

"Tadashi. My scan indicates a rapid increase in your heart rate." Baymax suddenly said, shattering whatever bubble of confidence Tadashi built around himself during the past second. "I-I uhh..." Tadashi babbled with wide eyes. "Your cortisol levels are also rising at an alarming rate indicating anxiety." Baymax walked over to him, "Treatments to anxiety may include theraputical massa-"

"IAMSATIFIEDWITHMYCARE!" Tadashi said rapidly waving his hands around, hoping Baymax understood the statement.

True enough, the robot returned to his dock and deflated, fully deactivating, making Tadashi breathe a relieved sigh. "You okay?" Lily stood in front of him, giving him an uneasy smile. She had spent enough time with Tadashi to know when something's up. Heck, it really didn't take much to tell if something was up with Tadashi, the man was like an open book to everyone, a fact Lily could easily appreciate.

"Yeah, yeah I'm okay." He said unsurely, taking off his cap and running his hand through his hair nervously. Lily smiled at his bashful state, eyes following how his hair tickled his long digits and remembering the times when she had the privilege to play with them. "Wanna sit down? You look like you need to get something off your chest." She said, motioning to the purple pillow by her ledge.

With her project almost out of the way, it gave her more time to thing about things. About the fact that her dad could possibly remarry, her final presentation and, most of all, Tadashi. What they had was precious to her, she thought, leading said young man by the hand to her favorite ledge in his lab. Lily hadn't been in a proper relationship ever since high school for good reason. It distracted her and nobody really asked to go out with her since then, anyway, so she just let it slip her mind as the years passed. Looking at Tadashi now, all flustered and, according to Baymax, anxious, all Lily could think about was the fantasy of always being by this man's side for as long as she could possibly exist. Smiling at her own funny thought, she shifted her attention to her partner who was still just as red as a tomato.

"Hey.", she said, lightly tugging on a longer patch of hair by his ear to get his attention. "You definitely need a hair cut.", she teased her tone gradually turning serious, "What's up, Tadashi?"

Tadashi's pulse was beating through his eyes, for Christ's sake. He could see the world blur and clear after every pump he felt his heart make as he sat on that ledge with both the bane and light of his existence, as extreme as that sounded. He hadn't dated in a while. Not since high school, anyway. It wasn't as if he wasn't interested and neither was it the lack of girls to fawn over but it just didn't "click" with any of them, Tadashi thought, stealing a shy glance at Lily who was softly tracing the embroidered letters on his cap that he handed to her. Neither of them were perfect, Tadashi thought as he recalled past arguments, but despite that, he just knew, deep inside, that it'd work. One way or another, with Lily there with him, it'd work.

"I like you." Tadashi breathed, watching Lily's fingers still. Reaching for her hand and squeezing it tightly, Tadashi motioned for her to look at him. "I like you." He repeated more firmly. Lily's eyes sparkled.

"I mean, ah god." he grumbled, rubbing his free hand against his face. Feeling Tadashi shy away from her, Lily returned the squeeze as strongly as she could. "Go on.", she replied in a whisper, a few strands of hair escaping her loose bun. Heart beating fast, Tadashi looked back at her and stared. Lily flushed red under his gaze, but she didn't back down. "Go on. Please." She pleaded, holding his hand tighter and closer to her.

"I like you, Lily.", he said the third time. "Not just as my consultant, not just as my friend, not just as that weird girl who decided to nest in a fourth of my lab and thought a scary-ass-looking robot would make a good thank you gift but as something... more." he finished lamely, not really knowing what else to say. But to Lily, Tadashi's look said everything.

Feeling Lily's hand leave his, he felt his heart nearly stop. But before his eyes could show what he felt, a body barreled on to him a second time again that day, embracing him. Only this time, it didn't hurt as much.

"I like you, too!", he heard her say, muffled by his shirt. Pulling back enough to look at him in the eye, Lily smiled. She smiled wider than Tadashi had ever seen her smile. "I like you, too, Tadashi Hamada. I really _really_ like you."

Breaking the silence with a stifled laugh, the pair grinned, hearts definitely lighter than they have been for the past few months. In a bout of adrenaline, Tadashi did the one thing he'd been wanting to do ever since she gave him her first smile. He kissed her. And to the new couple, well, it felt pretty damn good.

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><p><strong>I'm sorry if it's too cheesy. I'm not very good at these types of things. Needed the song suggestions to get me in the mood whilst writing these. The selected song will be featured in future chapters too, don't worry.<strong>


	11. Special Dinner Night

"NO!" Cass giddied, wooden spoon in hand as she stood by the kitchen stove, preparing the evening's dinner. Cass did her best raising the boys. Being a free spirit for most of her life, imagine a young Cass' surprise when the responsibility of raising two boys came down on her a few months after their parents' deaths.

"No!" She repeated with a large smile, making insensible noises of glee and jumping from one foot to the other. Tadashi stood beside her by the counter, peeling the potatoes and carrots for dinner. He chuckled at his aunt's reaction, "It's really not that big of a deal, Aunt Cass." Tadashi was around nine years old when Cass had to take him and Hiro in all on her own after their parents died. He liked their cool Aunt Cass, having met her before during the weekends she'd visit back then, but seeing her try so hard for him and his brother when they needed her most, holding off her plans she had for her own life to take care of them, Tadashi owed the world to her and he wanted to do anything to show her how much he loved her.

"It IS a big deal! Ohh, my boy's in love!" Tadashi had mentioned Lily in some of their conversations before and it wasn't that hard to guess that her eldest nephew took a fancy to this girl. Finally meeting her that day at the cafe, Cass was already pairing them together in her head and was just hoping for the best. Tadashi had to grow up so quickly after she took him in. She did her best, but it was different to have a young Hiro grow up without a father figure so Tadashi took it upon himself to take that position in Hiro's life as well. He was, and still is, a rather serious child, often playing jokes and pranks with his little brother as he should, but she thought it was about time Tadashi did something for himself for a change. Tadashi could acutely say the same thing for his aunt.

"I wouldn't say it's gone _that_ far, Aunt Cass." Tadashi chuckled, thoughts straying to his new, dare he say, girlfriend. They had officially been going out for a bare three days now and boy was he on cloud nine. When they told the gang about it, their reaction was a unanimous "well it's about time!", surprising Lily and then eventually embarrassing Tadashi as they went on about how "obvious" he was being before they got together.

Tadashi had to drop Lily off at San Fransokyo University that afternoon so she could finish up a few more things for her project. "Thanks, Tadashi." She smiled, giving him a soft peck in the lips and then blushing as she got off of his moped. "I-I'll see you tomorrow?", she said, fumbling with the envelopes she held. Tadashi flushed just as much as her, still not getting over the fact that this wonderful person standing in front of him was his girlfriend. Not to mention the now totally okay but mostly really awkward but heart-flipping kisses. "Y-yeah." He smiled, taking the helmet off her head and patting down her tousled hair. They laughed. "Call me when you're free?" He smiled, starting the engine. "For you? Always." Lily winked, earning her a laugh and a look from her boyfriend.

Lily texted him later that day saying she ended up attending a professor's lecture so she could get him to review her submissions after the session. Instead of being the good student that she is, Tadashi and her had been texting the whole time while she sat in the lecture hall. When Lily got about telling him how her dad reacted after she told him they got together, Tadashi thought it would be nice to tell his aunt about it, too. He bet she'd be thrilled.

"This is amazing!" Cass gushed, pinching his cheek before going back to boiling and frying dinner. She was thrilled, all right. "Special dinner to-night!", she danced, "I didn't get to buy some chicken wings, because _someone_ couldn't tell me the good news any sooner." Cass teased, playfully slapping Tadashi's shoulder earning her a sarcastic "sorry" and a chuckle. "But", she continued, "I do have leftover fillets that'll be rad with the hot sauce. Get ready to have your face melted!" Tadashi chuckled, not helping a kiss on the cheek and a "love you, Aunt Cass." for his aunt.

Hearing creaks on the stairway, it wasn't too long after a tuft of dark hair made it's way up to the family kitchen. "Did somebody say it was Special Dinner Night?", Hiro grinned, back from who-knows-where. "And what have you been doing the whole afternoon today?" Tadashi raised a teasing brow, not really meaning it. Hiro, being the inquisitive little spunk, knew Tadashi wasn't in the mood to pick on him so he decided to play along, glad that he was being let off the hook already. "Nothing.", he said as convincingly as possible, "Just normal, fourteen-year-old, guy stuff."

"Uh-huh. Care to elaborate?" Tadashi knew Hiro was on a roll bot-fighting. After a few more incidents of "Lily treating me", Tadashi sowed GPS devices in all of his little brother's hoodies just to keep an eye on him. Lily said he had a brother complex. He replied he was just keeping Hiro safe.

"Hey, just because you've got a new girlfriend doesn't mean you can start picking on me.", Hiro tutted as if he had no fault in anything as he walked around the dining table to his usual seat. "Tadashi!" Cass gasped, "You told me Hiro didn't know! Liar!" Holding up his hands in surrender as his aunt pointed the wooden spoon at him accusingly, Tadashi replied, "Hey! Hey! I thought he didn't!" The elder threw a questioning gaze at his brother. "H-How'd you find out, knucklehead?" Tadashi's voice cracked as he gradually turned pink. Was he really that obvious?

"Psh. Staring at your phone past bedtime with that ridiculous grin on your face? The droopy look you get when you see Lily when you pick me up from her place?" Hiro grinned, enjoying the redness spread across his older brother's face, "And not to mention the pictu-"

"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT!" Tadashi hurriedly jumped over the counter to stop his brother from spilling any more of his, thought to be, secret guilty pleasures. Hiro, already expecting his older brother's reaction, dodged at just the right minute and scrambled to the other side of the table. "He has a picture of Lily in his drawer!" Hiro teased, running to the opposite side of the dining table as Tadashi circled to chase him. "Hiro!", Tadashi called, voice slightly cracking in embarrassment.

"He bought tickets to Mount Fuji Meadows last month and put them in a envelope with "Lily" on it!", Hiro chanted, again running to the table's opposite end when Tadashi circled to catch him.

"Hiro has molding pizza and candy bars by his hamper!", Tadashi confessed, desperate in trying to get Hiro to stop.

"Tadashi draws hearts and flowers on his notes!"

"Hiro took apart your favorite hair dryer and made it his robot's jetpack!"

"Tadashi is reading books on gardening because Lily is into it!"

"Hiro got an F at school just for the fun of it!"

"BOYS!" Aunt Cass yelled, a plate of spicy chicken fillets in hand. "First of all, how dare you not tell me as soon as you got a girlfriend!" Cass accused Tadashi as she passed him. "We got together three days ago!" Tadashi said exasperatedly, his palms on either sides of his head as he tried to fight the blush down. Hiro's snickering stopped when Aunt Cass looked at him. "And you!" Cass raised a brow, making Hiro gulp. "An F? For fun?! We are going to have a long talk, mister!"

"Aww man!", both brothers whined unanimously as they elbowed each other and sat at the dining table, following their aunt's example. It was going to be a long Special Dinner Night.


	12. Us

**Many thanks to user Aerie-chan for doing a fanart of Lily! Link to the work is in my description. I feel very flattered!**

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><p>"Do I look ok?" Tadashi asked his brother the nth time that evening as he stood in front of the mirror. They have been dating for a week now and he realized he and Lily still hadn't gone on a proper date. "It would be weird if I answered that." Hiro said uninterested, burying his nose into the robotics magazine he was reading. "Come on, help me out here, bud!" Tadashi huffed, consciously fumbling with his cuffs.<p>

As soon as Aunt Cass found out about it, she cancelled all the reservations in the cafe that evening and told Tadshi to rent a suit and call his girlfriend. Tadashi, stumped as he was, went out and rented a suit. About to call Lily, he asked his aunt what the occasion was. She replied, "You're taking her on a dinner date, of course! Now try on that suit and call your girlfriend, you are going to have the best evening of your life right here at the cafe!"

Naturally Tadashi resisted his aunt's impromptu plan for their evening, reasoning with her about what her customers would think and it'd definitely be overtime for her staff, not to mention Hiro and her will be in the house with them, Tadashi added to himself. "Leave all the nitty gritty to me!" Aunt Cass said with a wave, starting up the kitchen stove. Knowing he couldn't change his aunt's mind, Tadashi just took a step back and dialed Lily's number. It wasn't such a bad idea, he thought, after talking it through with Lily. Neither of them really wanted to go anywhere specific and Lily did love the cafe's tortilla wraps. "Why not?", Lily said from the other end of the line.

Hiro groaned. He found it funny at first, seeing his older brother totally losing his composure and grumbling to himself in his side of the room getting ready for his "hot date", as Aunt Cass excitedly put it, but after Tadashi kept standing in front of the mirror for thirty minutes, things weren't as funny as Hiro thought anymore. "Do you think the suit's cut the wrong way?" Tadashi asked. Hiro grunted, aggressively closing his magazine. "That's it!" The younger brother stood, took his brother's moped helmets and keys "Take these, pick Lily up and have a good time!" Hiro said, pushing his brother towards the staircase. "You look fine, Tadashi." Hiro grumbled and blushed, refusing to look at his older brother.

Tadashi smiled. He was always the one that needed Tadashi's help, Hiro thought. From being bullied at school, to creating his first hovercraft, Tadashi had always been there for him and his older brother never really asked much of him in return. Seeing Tadashi smile muttering a "thanks, Hiro" as he climbed down the stairs and out the door, knowing he had a part in his brother getting his confidence back, Hiro felt... nice.

Lily's house wasn't too far away from the cafe, considering Tadashi had a moped. After a good twenty minute drive, he pulled over to the Huang household's gate. To say that his heart beat erratically was an understatement. Sure, he and Lily were officially a couple and sure he had already properly asked Mr. Huang if he could let him court his daughter but it still doesn't change the fact that he was taking Lily, the smartest, sweetest, dorkiest, most beautiful person in the world, out on their first date.

"I'll see you later, Dad." He heard a voice say from the inside of the house before the door opened revealing it's owner. _'Wow...' _Tadashi thought, dropping his helmet making it clang into the metal garbage can and startling the father and daughter. "S-Sorry! My bad!" Tadashi fumbled, picking up his helmet. Andrew Huang sighed. The boy reminded him so much of himself in his younger years. A tad bit skinnier than he was but definitely just as awkward, Andrew thought, as he continued to painfully watch the young man's fumbling and blushing like a teenager as he talked to his daughter.

Lily took mostly after her mom. From her attitude to how she stood, other than a few facial features and her hair color, Lily looked exactly just like her mom had when she was her age. It was difficult seeing her grow up so fast and eventually having to have to get used to seeing her around with the Hamada boy. It could've been worse, Andrew thought, nodding at the boy before he started the engine and drove away with his princess. Lily could've gone out with an ex-vigilante or something else his mind exaggerated. Hamada was a good kid. Andrew just had to get over his daughter complex soon.

Riding the moped was always such a thrill for Lily, especially when there wasn't any traffic. Sure there was always the danger of being so exposed, that being the reason for her apprehension for two-wheeled vehicles, but having Tadashi to hold in front of her comforted her enough to the level of actually enjoying the ride.

"We're here." Tadashi said, as they pulled over the driveway. Lily always had that strong grip on him whenever they ride the moped together. She used to only hold onto his shoulders the first few times but found it harder to balance herself that way, making Tadashi chuckle at the memory. Lily laughed uncertainly, arms still around his waist as she got a hold of her bearings. "Did I drive too fast?" Tadashi said, softly patting her arm. "N-no. I mean yeah. But it was fun." She chuckled, finally letting go and getting off the vehicle. Hands still intertwined, Tadashi led her towards the cafe entrance.

Tadashi was always in such good shape, she mused, remembering the feel of him as she held on to him for dear life during that moped ride. He was tall, good looking and unbearably kind. Entering the beautifully lit and romantically decorated cafe, thanks to Aunt Cass and Hiro's efforts, Tadashi explained, Lily wondered what in the world did she ever do to deserve such wonderful people in her life.

"They definitely outdid themselves, didn't they?" Tadashi chuckled after helping Lily into her seat. All Lily's favorite dishes and more were laid out in front of them, sending her senses into overload. Coupled with the candle light and soft background music, Lily couldn't have imagined how else her first date with Tadashi could ever look.

"They sure did." She beamed, "This looks wonderful, Tadashi." Seeing the pleased look on her face, Tadashi smiled proudly back at her. "I'll make sure to send the compliments to the chef, then."

"Where are Aunt Cass and Hiro anyway?" Aunt Cass had insisted Lily to call her that instead of the usual "Ms. Hamada" after she saw her a second time in the cafe. Finding out who she was after Tadashi officially introduced them, Aunt Cass wanted to make her feel as part of the family as she was, considering she was helping her nephew so much with his project.

"They're upstairs watching a movie." Tadashi said, picking through the food. "Well, a movie marathon actually. Aunt Cass wanted to keep Hiro and Mochi occupied long enough before they doze off to sleep."

"Really? Should I go up and say hi?"

"Nah. You can do that the next time you drop by. They won't mind."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Tonight's supposed to be our night, after all." Tadashi said, enjoying the faint blush creep on to Lily's cheeks.

As dinner passed, the two contentedly sat across each other and happily drank some wine while they enjoyed spending a quiet night together. Tadashi's hands never left Lily's as she just as comfortably kept her fingers intertwined with his on the table while they talked. "And Hiro screamed "ice crispies-coated underwear" while jumping out of bed like a naked madman which was how he probably looked like in his dream." Tadashi laughed along with Lily as he told her about an inicdent when Hiro was ten.

"That's so mean!" Lily said in bursts, giving up on masking her occasional snort and just settled with having a good time with Tadashi. They always had conversations like these back at the lab, talking about stuff they experienced or about a few things they were interested in and just genuinely getting to know more about each other everyday. I guess you could say they've always had dates at the lab before without really realizing it.

"Hey, those mornings at the lab?" Lily started, deciding to tell Tadashi about her observation. "Yeah? What about them?" He smiled, running his thumb along her knuckles. "If you think about it, I guess you could call them our mini-dates, huh? If you think about it."

Tadashi put his thumb against his chin. "Hmm." He thought about the late evenings where they would just eat dimsum and alternate between talking about vermiculture or actually working on their projects, the mornings where they'd just laze around shoulder-to-shoulder on Lily's favorite ledge deciding to just be unproductive for that day and the mornings after where thy'd cram everything because it was hours before the deadline, heavily regretting their decisions to be unproductive on those free days. "Guess you're right." Tadashi chuckled, appreciating the way how Lily would look at him and smile making his heart swell.

"Speaking of dates," Tadashi stood and pulled an envelope out of a nearby drawer, "here." Lily looked at the innocent-looking piece of folded paper with a scratchy "Lily" written at the back.

"What is it?"

"Open it."

"... It won't explode, will it?"

"Do I really look like the kind of guy who would want to blow up his girlfriend?"

"Maaaaaybe." Lily giggled, slightly blushing from hearing her title come from Tadashi's lips.

"Just open it, Lils." Tadashi chuckled, leaning over the back of his chair as he enjoyed watching Lily's childishly excited expression.

Inside the envelope were two tickets to Mount Fuji Meadows, a ski resort. "I was wondering, you know," Tadashi mumbled, pink dusting his cheeks, "After the SFIT exhibit and after your presentation, we could, I dunno maybe spend some time alone together outside the city? I heard it was a great place to snowboard and it has the perfect weather conditions to try out those new experiments you wanted to do with the herbs in-mph!"

As Tadashi kept babbling, he hand't noticed Lily stand up and walk over to his side of the table. Hands on his nape and shoulder, Lily kissed Tadashi as deeply as she could as she felt his hand snake around her waist and the other cup her cheek, pushing her into the kiss again before she could break away from him too soon. They hadn't done anything other than small occasional pecks and kisses with each other so the experience was alarmingly addicting to either members of the party.

Lily soon found herself leaning against Tadashi's chest as she sat on his lap. Tadashi's kisses were slow but meaningful, Lily noticed, as she felt him pull her closer against him as her arms circled around his neck. They would break apart briefly for air before gravitating towards each other again for another round of deep kisses for each other.

She smelled wonderful, Tadashi thought, and she feels so soft. He had been wanting this for them for the longest time, almost losing hope after thinking she didn't feel the same way as he did when he confessed to her. Lily was amazing. She was hesitant, despite being the one who initiated it, but so sincere and raw that the thought of her sharing her first kiss with some other snotty teenager made his blood boil making him deepen the kiss further.

A new song had played by the stereo when they stopped, settling with nuzzling and teasing each other as Lily stayed comfortably on his lap. "Feel like stretching those pretty legs of yours in a dance?" Tadashi chuckled, keeping his arms lazily around her waist. "Are you indirectly telling me I'm heavy?" Lily almost laughed at Tadashi's confused expression, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding." She giggled, pecking him once again in the lips. "I'd love to dance, Tadashi."

The pair stood and walked over to the open floor and once again wrapped their arms around each other moving in a slow waltz. "I remember this airing a few years ago." Tadashi hummed, enjoying the lights play in his partner's eyes.

"I Won't Give Up, I think is the title?"

"You're just saying that 'cuz the chorus just sung it."

"Quiet, you. I'm serious." Lily laughed, lightly slapping Tadashi's shoulder.

The young man held her close, resting his chin on the top of her head. "You like that song?", he asked.

Lily sighed contentedly, "I do now."

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><p><strong>Congratulations to user Sticks and Steam for having their song picked! Thank you to all who gave their suggestions!<strong>


	13. You Mean So Much To Me

"Morning, Lils."

"Greetings, Lily."

Tadashi and Baymax said in unison as Lily entered the lab that morning. Tadashi and her were already pretty much done with their respective projects and so, technically, Lily's pass should have been expired. "Morning, you two." Lily laughed, skipping over to her two boys. Tadashi leaned in for a morning kiss and Lily happily complied.

A few strings had to be pulled but Professor Callaghan managed to extend Lily's pass until the end of the school year which Tadashi was eternally grateful for. The professor had seen the pair more often than not as they progressed over the months. Seeing them together as they worked at the lab had grown on him.

Settling on her rightful place under Tadashi's arm, Lily smiled. "How are you today, Baymax?" Tadashi was running a few more tests to make sure Baymax was in tip top shape before the exhibit a month from now, so far no complications had popped up which was a good thing for the both of them. "I am fine." Baymax said, "Thank you for your concern." He was such a flubber Lily thought, looking at Baymax appreciatively. Thinking that she had a part in creating something so wonderful, so good, with someone she genuinely cared about, it made her feel proud. "He's going to help a lot of people, Tadashi." She said, looking at her partner meaningfully. "Yeah, he is." Tadashi sighed, kissing the top of her head as the both of them looked at Baymax appreciatively.

"I am delighted to be the source of your satisfaction." Baymax suddenly said making Tadashi and Lily laugh. "Did you do the duct tape test today?" Lily recovered, letting go of Tadashi as he walked over to the workbench and picked up a roll of duct tape. "Not yet." Tadashi replied. "Was just about to do it before you came in. Actually..."

"What are you doing?" Lily laughed as Tadashi stuck a long piece of duct tape to her skin. "I'm not doing the duct tape test! It hurts!" She playfully tried wriggling her arm out of Tadashi's grasp, with her boyfriend laughing along, pulling her back flush against him. Lily knew Tadashi was mostly a mother hen about everything, especially when it came to getting the people he cared about hurt, but she also knew how much he enjoyed seeing his inventions in action. "Baymax will patch you up, no problem!" She felt his chest rumble as he chuckled and proceeded to pat the adhesive down on her skin. He was such a kid, getting all excited about the test, she thought. "You're such a nerd." Lily looked up at him fondly. One of the things Tadashi liked about Lily was her ability to deal with his quirkiness, her being able to just run with his ideas and to just genuinely enjoy doing those things with him. "I'm probably the luckiest nerd out there, then." He smiled, leaning down and kissing his girlfriend.

"Ow!" Lily yelped, breaking the kiss as Tadashi suddenly ripped the tape off Lily's skin. Not soon after, the sound of squeaking vinyl was heard as Baymax approached the couple. With Tadashi's arms still around her waist and his chin atop her shoulders, he sat back and watched Baymax work his magic. "Lily. I have been alerted to the sound of distress." Baymax started, noting his creator's neurotransmitter levels rising slightly. "You have a mild epidermal abrasion on your upper arm. I will now apply a topical antibiotic to soothe the irritation." As Baymax's stubby hands held Lily's arm and applied the antibiotic, she sighed. "It always amazes whenever I see Baymax activated like this." she said, giving her boyfriend's arm on her waist an appreciative squeeze as Tadashi replied with a hum. "The treatment is complete. I cannot deactivate unless you say you are satisfied with your care." Baymax said, pulling back from Lily. "Thank you, Baymax. I am satisfied with my care." Lily chuckled seeing Baymax walk back to his port and then deflating.

"You definitely did a great job with making him a cutie." Lily giggled as Tadashi spun her around to face him. Either rested their arms on their partner's waist. "It wasn't that hard. I always had one beside me for inspiration, after all." Tadashi said cheekily. Pulling down the bill of his hat, Lily laughed as she broke away from his hold. "Never thought Wasabi was your type, hon." she teased with a blush, "How in the world could I ever compete."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny, Huang." Tadashi smirked, slowly stalking towards her. "Now c'mere!" Lily squealed, dodging Tadashi's lunge, running to the opposite side of the lab. "You're never gonna take me alive!" Lily cheered, ducking to the left as Tadashi attempted to grab her. "I'd prefer to have a live girlfriend to hold, thank you very much!" He laughed, chasing Lily around the room.

The sound of shutters clicking could then be heard, catching Lily's attention. "Gotcha!" Tadashi yelled, enclosing his girlfriend in a bear hug and using one arm to tickle her side. "Haha! Tadashi! Hahaha Stop!" The pair laughed as Lily wriggled in his arms, trying and failing to get out of Tadashi's strong grip.

Shutter clicks were heard more obviously now, making Tadashi halt his movements. "Aww don't stop!" Honey Lemon whined from the doorway. The gang stood behind her, smirking. "W-w-w-" Tadashi stuttered, flushing a deep red. "Don't even think about making excuses for this one." Wasabi tutted. "Sheesh you're together already! No shame in acting all lovey-dovey with each other in public." Gogo sighed teasingly.

"This makes such a great throwback photo during your wedding!" Honey Lemon giddied showing everyone a shot of Lily in Tadashi's arms, both laughing. "Wedding?" Lily squeaked, looking at her boyfriend who was flushing just as much as her. Lily wasn't someone who thought about things too much, often preferring to live in the present than assume the events of the future. But a wedding? With Tadashi? Lily shook her head with her girlish fantasies, blushing even deeper. A lot could happen, but... it was rather nice to think about.

"You guys wanna grab some coffee with us?" Fred said, adding a "my treat!". "Uhh, I don't think so, Fred." Gogo raised a brow, "For all we know, that's all you've got for the year. So you guys coming?"

Coughing, Tadashi let go of Lily and looked at her before saying, "Sure. Thanks."

O—O

A few days later, Lily got a call from her dad telling her about a certain pair of Hamada boys getting put into temporary arrest at a nearby police station. Tadashi had texted her to meet him at the lab that evening, saying he was bringing Hiro to the lab for the first time. Glad they were out of prison, and excited to see the younger Hamada finally meeting the gang, Lily left the house and rode the tram.

"Hey, you made it." Tadashi smiled as he saw seeing Lily walk over to them, greeting her with a kiss. "Eww." Hiro groaned, covering his eyes with his bot. "Quiet, knucklehead." Tadashi jokingly scolded. "Good to see you too, Hiro." Lily laughed, walking over to the younger Hamada and ruffling his hair. "Hi, Lily." At first, Hiro thought Lily was a bit stingy and boring to talk to, but after having his ass saved a couple of times by the Chief of Police's daughter and helping her with her first robot, he thought she was pretty cool after all.

"I take it he's been inside?" Lily smirked, noting that look in Hiro's eye that was so like his brothers'.

Tadashi smirked with a smug look on his face, "Yep."

"He meet the gang?"

"Yep."

"Met Professor Cal?"

"Yep."

"He wants to enroll, doesn't he?"

"Ding ding! And we have a winner!" Tadashi cheered, cupping his hands against his mouth imitating te sound of a crowd's cheer.

"How did you do that? That was creepy!" Hiro said dumbstruck. Was Lily psychic?!

"Lets just say you Hamadas aren't as different as you might think." Lily winked, laughing at Hiro's expression and Tadashi's teasing.

Lily had been in and out of the Hamada household a few times before, going up with Tadashi to his room once to get some books they needed as reference then. "Put me down! Put me down!" Hiro none too gently dropped to the floor and scrambled back to his desk, the rapid sound of pencil scratching paper then surrounding him. Tadashi had picked Hiro up by his ankles and shook him around the room to get his spirits up. It seemed to have worked.

Lily chuckled, seeing the mental cogs turn in Hiro's head. He was a brilliant boy, Lily thought, looking at all the maps, diagrams, models and junk around his messy room. Inventions and spare parts littered his desk and plans she didn't even understand were pinned up the wall in Hiro's side of the room. He's going to grow up to change the world.

Tadashi's room, in comparison, was much smaller than his brother's. Not quite as littered but just as full of interesting things she would never have dreamed Tadashi owned. He had so many books! Piles and piles of them stacked in a corner, on the shelf, some even atop his hamper, which he quickly cleaned up before she could enter, she noted. His prized and only snowboard hung proudly up the wall by the divider and a SFIT flag covered the large window. There was still so much she needed to know about Tadashi, she realized, and that was a journey she would happily take if he'd let her. "What're you thinking about?" Tadashi said sitting beside Lily on the bed, swinging an arm over her shoulders. "Stuff." Lily smiled fondly, not helping a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek. "I'm here, you know!" Hiro called, tips of his ears a tad flushed. The pair laughed.

O—O

"I can't believe I haven't noticed this before but your ears are huge!" Lily pulled on Tadashi's earlobes, inspecting the organ. A few days passed after Hiro managed to finish his plans for his SFIT Exhibit presentation. The younger Hamada was at the garage working on manufacturing his "microbots" shooing Lily and Tadashi out saying their sappiness was distracting him. "You'll understand when you get older, Hiro!" Tadashi called as he was shoved out the garage door. "And be smooch-smoochy and gross like you? No way!" Hiro said back with one last shove.

The couple lounged at the Hamada household's couch, Tadashi not willing to leave his brother alone while he worked on his project. "You didn't have to point it out! Ow!" Tadashi grunted as Lily slapped his hand away when he tried to cover his ears. "Don't be such a baby about it and let me see!" Tadashi and Lily haven't been together for too long, only officially a couple for a rough three weeks but there was a certain something about the other that just clicked with them. "Lily! Augh!" Tadashi was definitely having a hard time. Sure he was a gentleman, his aunt raised him well after all, but having the object of his affection climbing all over him in such close proximity without a care in the world really was tripping with his self-control. "They probably take up a fourth of your head!" Lily gushed, "I wonder if Hiro has them, I mean, the rule of genetics obviously applies..." Tadashi internally groaned. It didn't help at all that Lily had to choose today, of all days, to wear a loose dress, the hem riding up and a strap _just_ about to fall off her shoulder. Lily had climbed up his lap to get a better look at his "ginormous auditory flaps" and it was driving Tadashi up a wall._ 'If she is doing this just to turn me on, she is so going to get it.'_. Tadashi exhaled, hands on Lily's hips as he desperately tried preventing her from moving too much as she was very close to a very sensitive area.

"Tadashi! What do you think about using- augh! Ew! Gross! Get a room!" Hiro climbed down the stairs just as fast as he went up screaming, "Tadashi and Lily are doing weird stuff again!"

"It's not what you think!" Tadashi called back, flushing red.

O—O

Finally the day of the showcase arrived with everyone prepping for their respective presentations. "This is gonna be killer!", Hiro cheered enthusing to Lily about his presentation. "There's gonna be "ooh"s and "aahh"s and "Mr. Hamda, we have accepted you into our Technology program!". Aww, yeah!" Lily chuckled at the young Hamada's excitement. Tadashi had asked her to look after Hiro for him before taking him to the SFIT showcase as the elder Hamada had to help Wasabi and Aunt Cass transport Hiro's microbot bins to the site. They were at SFU, Lily's university, waiting for Tadashi to pick Hiro up. Lily couldn't come along since her presentation to the panel will coincidentally happen on the same hour as the exhibit's presentation schedule. She had promised to catch up with them as soon as she could.

"You like my project, don't you, Lily?" Hiro beamed. Lily, considering she couldn't see the presentation, ended up being the bots' first guinea pig, with Tadashi wearing the neurotransmitter. Despite all the mucky stuff Hiro had seen Lily and Tadashi do together, she really did make his brother happy, Hiro thought remembering how carefully yet enthusiastically Tadashi instructed the microbots as they tossed and caught Lily around the garage walls, ending with a laughing pair on the floor as the microbots dropped Lily into Tadashi's arms. "'Course I do. I wouldn't be alive if you hadn't made them as excellently as you did with your brother throwing me around your garage." Lily laughed, never getting tired of ruffling the young boy's tousled hair.

"Hey knucklehead!" Tadashi honked his moped's horn, spotting his girlfriend and brother having a moment by the fountain. "You better not be romancing my girl, you hear?" He teased as he saw Hiro running towards him. "Psh. As if." Hiro rolled his eyes, hurriedly putting on his helmet. Lily, who was walking at a more leisurely pace behind Hiro, smirked. "And what is that supposed to mean?" she said, putting her hands on her hips and raising an accusing brow at the younger Hamada. "It means, you are the smartest, most beautiful woman in the world and no one can have you but me!" Tadashi announced proudly making a few heads turn their way as Hiro did a facepalm. Lily laughed with a blush, "Nice save, older Hamada but that doesn't change anything for this little twerp.".

Hiro and Lily argued a bit before Tadashi broke them off as the sun started to set, reminding them of the evening's exhibit. "I'll call you when we get there." Tadashi grinned, clasping his helmet into place, "You'll nail it, Lils." Tadashi kissed her. "Uggghhhh!" Hiro groaned covering his eyes. "Oh hush, you sound like a neanderthal." Lily giggled, "Make sure you do a better job than your brother, you hear?"

"Hey! Where's the love?" Tadashi playfully pouted, one hand on the moped's handlebars and the other around Lily's waist. Lily, still with a blush, playfully rolled her eyes. She had been thinking about their relationship a lot for the past few days now, as timely as it was. His smiles, his laugh, that look he has that he makes just for her, he meant so much to her, Lily thought, watching Tadashi teasing and messing with his brother.

"You'll do great," Lily said suddenly, catching Tadashi's attention. "I love you."

"Wh-what?" Tadashi stopped and looked at her slack-jawed.

"Ooookayyy, I'll be over there." Hiro jumped off the moped a scarlet red. "Call me when you're done!"

It was quiet between the couple, Lily's heart beating a mile a minute. "I-I mean, I thought-I just..." Lily rambled, "I just thought that I should I say it first this time." Lily mumbled, confidence very rapidly depleting as she stared at Tadashi's lack of a reaction. "I-I mean, if i-it's too soon or of you don't feel the same- I totally understand..." Her vision blurred as a few tears managed to escape. Seeing the droplets mar Lily's rosy cheeks, Tadashi snapped out of his shock. "Oh, Lils." he mumbled before holding her close and kissing her deeply. He never wanted to let go of this beautiful person in his arms with the kiss getting more and more difficult to hold as Lily started sobbing, "I-I'm sorry, I don't know what's gotten into me...", she grumbled, sobbing and laughing as she tried to wipe the tears away feeling very confused.

"Hey hey, it's okay. That's okay. You're okay." Tadashi cooed, embracing her and showering her face with kisses, totally ignoring the looks they got from the passing students. "I love you, too. I love you too, Lils." He repeated, holding her against him, not helping a huge grin. "I love you, too." He said finally with one long, deep, meaningful kiss on his lover's lips.

"Tadashi! We're gonna be laaaaaaate!" Hiro called a few feet from them, covering his eyes.

"Oh crap, right. The showcase, right." Tadashi fixed himself and helped Lily put herself back together as much as he could. "Talk to you more later?" Tadashi said hopeful, hating that he had to leave Lily after that confession.

"Yeah. You'll do great, Tadashi." Lily giggled, eyes still a bit poofy and voice still a little bit shaky.

"I know you'll do great, too. I love you, Lily."


	14. Their Second Meeting

It happened. The exhibit. The presentation. The _fire_.

Lily leaned against the laboratory doors, the wake still happening at the Hamada household. She couldn't face them. She couldn't face Hiro like this. When she got the news, when Tadashi wouldn't pick up his phone, when Aunt Cass had called her instead of him, when Hiro wailed and cried as he stood in front of the rubble of what used to be the SFIT showcase, when she saw his charred, mangled body scavenged out of the debris. Lily's world stopped.

She didn't utter a sound, not a tear not a moan. All she did, up until now, was stand behind the line. Behind Hiro, Aunt Cass, Gogo, Honey Lemon, Fred, Wasabi, all of his relatives and classmates, not making a sound. She had no right. No right to mourn for him as much as they have. She didn't know him as long as they have, didn't make as many memories with him as they had, didn't share as many laughs, smiles and dreams as much as them. But god did she wish she had. She wanted as much time with him as they had. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair!

Head on her hands, Lily screamed. She wailed, thrashed, pulled at her hair, bit her lips and just let so many tears fall. Hiro didn't deserve to see her like this. He needed a rock, someone there to support him. He had lost his brother, his best friend. If anyone deserved to scream as much as Lily was doing it was him.

She had taken it upon herself to be the one to pack up his things, nobody seeming to want to do it themselves, and had come to the deserted division of the laboratory which was Tadashi's. She hadn't stopped screaming, not for a while, in the safety behind closed doors. She had walked to her corner of the laboratory, looking at her faint reflection against the glass on the large window. Not escaping a sob, another round of shivers racked her body as she braced herself against the ledge that held so many memories of him as she lay on the floor, sadness consuming her.

Tadashi. Tadashi. Tadashi.

He was all she could think about. His presence, his kind voice, his loving embraces and his passionate kisses. "I love you! I love you so much!", she screamed, vision blurring, voice cracking, heart tearing, "You idiot! Stupid, selfish, bastard!" Lily cursed, pathetically writhing in the corner. "Why?! WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE YOU?!" It was too much, she thought, slowly crumbling away and breaking into tiny bits and pieces. Just too much.

The last draft of her dissertation sat atop one of the desks. Using what little strength she had, she stood up and walked towards it. It was what started it all, she thought. Hating how the memory of the kiss he gave her when she showed it to him gripped at her throat. In a fit of rage, she roughly grabbed the stack, fully intending to throw it against the wall or maybe even through Wasabi's plasma machine, not noticing the paperweight that held the documents together slip off the table, landing on her foot.

"Ow!" she yelped, dropping the stack. The sound of beeping was then heard followed by a certain vinyl-covered robot activating beside her. "Lily. I have been alerted to the sound of distress." Baymax stared at his creator's partner. "A slight bruise is forming on your left foot. You are also suffering from a laceration on your lip and an irritation in your scalp. Your neurotransmitter levels are also alarmingly low." Baymax announced, taking note of his creator's partner's distressed state of mind and body. "Lily. I am here to listen since talking about one's troubles improves one's emotional state."

A sob briefly escaping her, Lily did her best to hold back the tears. "Is my presence causing you distress?" Baymax said, almost sounding confused. "N-no. No, Baymax. I'm fine." Lily said with the best smile she could muster, not helping the image of a happily dancing Tadashi upon Baymax's first activation. "Thank you, Baymax. I am satis-"

"Is your distress caused by Tadashi?"

Lily stopped, looking incredulously at the robot. How did Baymax know that? Was he able to read minds? Clearly that wasn't the reason as she was there when Tadashi and her talked about his features. Heck she took charge of that segment in his documentation. "W-what?". she croaked.

"Is the cause of your distress Tadashi?" Baymax repeated, still standing completely still.

Unable to fathom how the robot found out about such data, knowing fully well you can't figure that out from a person with their biological readings alone, all Lily could really say was a weak "Yes."

"Playing." Baymax said before a light static emitted from his speakers. Lily couldn't make anything out of it, though. Not until the first verse begun.

"When I look into your eyes, it's I'm watching the night sky..."

Lily choked. It was that song. That song from the stereo that played that night at the cafe. The song they danced to. "B-Baymax. Wh-where did you get this?"

Baymax stood straighter being alerted to Lily's change of readings. "You neurotransmitter levels are decreasing, is the treatment not-"

"Where did you get this, Baymax?!" Lily screamed as she slammed her fists against the robot's soft chest, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Tadashi had stored this file in my medical database." Baymax said.

"What?" Lily croaked.

Baymax started heating up, emitting a soft orange glow from his insides. Lily felt the robot circle its arms around her, enclosing her in a chamber of warmth, companionship and soft music. "I have been programmed to care for the sick and injured." Baymax started as Lily held on to him harder, more tears escaping her. "But," he continued, "I also want to take care of Lily."

Lily was shocked. How much of a genius was Tadashi, really? He could have programmed it into him as well for all she knew but feeling Baymax's arms grow tighter around her, gently pushing her against him, urging her to rely on him, she calmed. "Lily is my creator's partner." Baymax said, noticing Lily's levels slowly steadying, "With out his partner, my creator could not have created me. Lily is also my creator."

She shook. The young woman in Baymax's arms crumpled to a useless mess as she sobbed and mourned for the loss of her lover. For the loss of a friend. For the loss of a brother, a nephew, a great man. Baymax stayed with her, not saying anything more as the song he played continued to echo around the small laboratory where he was created.

O—O

Not long after, Lily had finished packing everything Tadashi personally owned at the laboratory, their friends helping once in a while when she'd let them. They were kind to her, always considering her feelings and always making it an effort to cheer her up. She hadn't shed a single tear since that day with Baymax. She would be strong, she decided. Tadashi wouldn't want her to just waste away. No, she was going to live. Both for his memory and for Hiro and may heaven and hell move, she was going to make his dreams come true. She was not giving up on that.

She had dropped Baymax, among other things, in Tadashi's room, passing Hiro's slumped form by his desk. Thinking it was best for him, Lily took Tadashi's cap which was discarded roughly by the hamper, and gently placed it on Hiro's head with a sad smile. "He believes in you." She whispered before quickly exiting the room, fighting down an onslaught of tears. A few weeks later, she heard that Hiro had activated Baymax and were running around town together, catching him and a woozy robot outside the police station. The following month after was a ride. Being chased by a madman, discovering the true reason of the fire, helping Hiro and the gang patch up after a rough tussle at one of the abandoned islands, discovering Fred's apparent wealth, having her house almost sucked into a makeshift portal and riding atop Baymax with Hiro one evening to enjoy the city lights. Oh how much she had wished Tadashi was there with them.

Lily had went on to continue her studies, finishing with honors on her graduation day, eventually founding a charity foundation she named after Tadashi, in memory of what they had and what they could have made together. She had eventually specialized in medical technology, finding herself with Hiro in his garage more often than not, thinking up new inventions they could make to help the sick and disabled. Hiro and the gang had racked up a storm, constantly out and about fighting bad guys around the city and keeping everyone safe. She had her reservations about using Baymax as a combat bot but conceded after seeing how happy it made Hiro. Lily ended up being the Big Hero 6's secret doctor, as they didn't want anyone else to find out why they had cuts that needed sutures and broken bones that needed casting. Even though Baymax worked wonderfully with taking care of Hiro and the team, he could only do so much when he got damaged in battle or ran out of supplies. As Hiro got older and as his inventions got wilder, it was difficult to keep up with the ins and outs of the city. It was then that Lily suggested to him to support the local police department, as it was their job to keep the city of San Fransokyo safe anyway. Hiro thought it was a great idea.

A good number of years down the road and Lily was a mother of three, leaving it Hiro's honor to name his first son "Tadashi". The pain had dulled over the years but it would never truly disappear, she admitted as she had walked down the aisle as a bride to a good man. Her husband would never ever be able to fill the void Tadashi had left in her heart, and he knew that. It was that accepting nature that had led her to love him in his own way and agree to marry him. She thought of Tadashi sometimes, when left alone with her children. What it would have been like to have a family with him like the one she had now. What their children would have looked like, how silly a young Hiro could have looked in a tux. They were only short musings though before a cry from one of the children would claim her attention and roughly bring her back to the reality of her life.

Lily passed away at the age of eighty-two. She had left a legacy that she had worked so hard to achieve. She had inspired people to do better, to work harder, to never give up and to always help others. She had helped Hiro set up his company, making it rise all the while doing her best to keep him on the right path as Aunt Cass and Tadashi would have wanted him to. She had raised good children, with a loving husband, who went on to help lead her foundation and help support the Hamadas' endeavors for years to come. But most importantly, one could note, was that she had loved. With her whole being from when they first met to when it was time to pass, she had loved Tadashi Hamada and only wished to see him again as she closed her eyes, one last time.

O—O

San Fransoyko was as lively as it has every been the past sixty years. From the rise of the Big Hero 6, to the city's numerous accounts of almost-eradication, and from the greatest technology tycoon human history couldn't have ever imagined: Hamada Programming Systems. Crime rates were the lowest they have ever been the past century, with majority of the city's security systems and police force in tip-top shape thanks to the cooperation between the San Fransokyo Chief of Police and the then university student turned Hamada Programming Systems Founder and CEO eighty years ago.

Festivals and recreational centers have never been as popular as virtual reality simulations and state-of-the-art robotics rule the market with Hamada Programming Systems pioneering the technology responsible for it's success. Recently, the company had reached it's peak with gross sales reaching billions a year. To celebrate their success, as quoted from it's CEO, "Hamada Programming Systems could not have risen as high as it had without the people under it's wing, the community and all who look for the good in the world." He said with pride, "In celebration of our company's success, the board and myself have decided that it is high time that we go back to the company's core. It's heart: To help people."

Partnering with the company's sister organization, the Tadashi Hamada Foundation, it aims to provide free state-of the art aid and healthcare in all under-developed countries of the world releasing hundreds of shipments to selected countries to assist with it's medical and healthcare needs, further assisting volunteers, under-staffed hospitals and even nursing homes. In these shipments contained Hamada Programming System's prized product, under production and perfection since the company was founded. They called it, Baymax.

In a small run-down clinic not far form the city center, a patient sat on her sickbed. She was now blind and paralyzed from waist-down due to a nervous system failure she had since young with many other complications. Many of the patients in the small facility could not afford the medical treatments that were needed to cure them of their condition. Despite that, many of the facilities in the clinic were up to date with at least two Baymax units and a few volunteer doctors and nurses constantly monitoring it's residents. The staff were having their regular rotations with other facilities much like this today, many of whom were fresh graduates.

The patient heard the door open and close, signaling the entrance of her supposed new doctor.

"Maemi Takachiho?" The doctor said as he approached her still form.

"Yes?", she said facing her healer's general direction. Maemi had gotten used to the facility's protocols, having been a resident for far too long than she should have been. She was thankful to the foundation for taking her in. Her family was not that rich, living in a world still full of hardship, despite it's apparent perfection. This was just another introduction, she guessed.

"I'm Doctor Tomeo and I'll be in charge of your recovery from today onwards." He said cheerily. "Unless they decide to transfer me again though. B-But I'm not saying you're not going to heal in time. Which you are!"

The doctor's babbling was new to Maemi, making a small laugh escape her slightly chapped lips. "I get it, Doctor. I've been here long enough to know my recovery won't come too soon.", she ended with a sad note.

Recovering from his undoubtedly unprofessional rambling, the doctor stood shocked at his patient's negativity. This young woman had never seen the beauty of day, the feel of the floor on her feet, the spice of life. Doctor Tomeo softened. Nobody deserved to stay like this. He didn't blame her for the dourness of her reply. If fact, it only fueled his desire to help her even more.

"Well, not with an attitude like that, you're not.", he harrumphed, grinning to himself as the surprised look painted itself on his patient's face. "You are going to get better. Maybe not today, maybe not even tomorrow but, as long as you are under my care, you _will_ walk and see again. That is a promise!"

No doctor had ever been bold enough to make a promise as grand as that to her. His statement shocked Maemi. What shocked her even more though was the amount of trust and fondness she felt for this doctor. How she suddenly believed, with all her heart, that he could heal her. That he could fulfill his promise. The feeling was so foreign and unexplainable to Maemi that she couldn't utter a single sound to the doctor, only able to face his general direction and gape.

Docotor Tomeo himself didn't believe, for the life of him, how he could have made such a far off almost impossible promise. He stared back, letting the gravity of his statement sink in to his consciousness. What made him do that? He thought, looking back at the young woman who was his patient. She was frail, as expected, but her eyes, as blank and plain-looking as they could be, held a soul. A soul that reached out to him. That touched him. That wanted him to be a part of this person's life, no matter what the consequences. To never give up.

Snapping out of his reverie, Doctor Tomeo couldn't help but ask: "I'm sorry to suddenly jump this on you but, have we met before?"

Maemi paused, thinking about the odd question her doctor just asked her after such an audacious proclamation. Something told Maemi, though, that the question held more meaning to it then she thought it did. And that was why she answered: "I don't believe so. But your voice is oddly... familiar."

Shaking his head and apologizing for his odd question, but not for his even odder proclamation, Maemi noted, the young doctor gently took her small hand in his, emitting a warmth that Maemi didn't at all mind. "I look forward to working with you, then.", he said.

An odd picture formed in her mind. Of someone's smiles, she thinks, as odd as the strange images were, considering she hadn't seen anything in a long time. Brushing off the peculiar but familiar feeling, she stretched her lips and made a smile of her own.

"I'll be in your care, Doctor."

* * *

><p><strong>This story cannot deactivate until you say, "You are satisfied with your care."<strong>


	15. Another Chance

**Alive!Tadashi AU**

* * *

><p>It happened. The exhibit. The presentation. The <em>fire<em>.

Lily leaned against the hospital wall, the surgery still happening inside the operating room. She sighed, giving Hiro a sad, weary smile from where he and everyone else sat across the room with the young man clutching his brother's cap as tightly as he could. Lily was on her way to the exhibit when a fire truck had whizzed passed her. Fearing the worst, she had rushed just in time to see the explosion before the firemen could enter. Tadashi hadn't gone too far into the building as they found his body lying under the rubble near the entrance. A beam fell on him, crushing his left leg but ultimately shielding him from the fire and saving his life.

She was one of the medics that was on the field, tending to anyone who happened to be around when the explosion happened, especially Hiro. But when they found Tadashi's body, Lily couldn't help but let a sob escape her. Not now. She couldn't break down now. She thought with deep breaths, instructing Hiro to stay put and running to help the paramedics as much as she could. Her clothes were covered with soot and dried blood as Tadashi was still severely bleeding when they got to him. She couldn't trust herself if she had stayed by his side for too long, fearing she could have been more trouble than she was help, and so she left it all to the professionals and stepped back painfully.

Lily hated the helpless feeling she felt as she watched them try and stabilize his condition enough to be transported. _'Let him be alright._ _Please, let him be alright!'_, she pleaded to whatever gods were out there, clenching her fists as her eyes followed the ambulance as it traveled to the nearest hospital. The burns on his left leg, or what was left of it, his arms and torso would scar badly and would serve as a horrible reminder of what had happened that day, Lily thought sadly, taking off her overcoat with an exhausted sigh. "He's alive. He's alive." She repeated to herself like a mantra. "As long as there won't be any complications, he will stay alive." Unbeknownst to her, everyone was listening to her mumbling.

Cass worried for the girl. Unlike all of them, Lily had not shed a single tear. Not since she found her helplessly standing a few feet away from the ambulance while holding Hiro. Her youngest nephew had calmed down by the time she got to him, still in shock, yes, but calm, as calm as anyone who just witnessed their brother run into an exploding building is, anyway. But Lily, she had closed off entirely, only answering her questions with a brief "Yes, Aunt Cass" or "I'm fine, Aunt Cass.", barking orders at onlookers, helping medics with retrieving Tadashi's body, as Hiro described, and being so oddly logical and mechanical about the situation that it scared her.

"Lily?" Cass whispered, hearing the soft mumbling stop. Everyone could cut the tension with a knife in those few seconds of silence, Hiro genuinely worried about what state Lily would be in when she looked up at them from her dazed form on the hospital wall. "I-I'll get everyone something to drink. Sorry for the bother." Lily said, briskly walking away. Wasabi, being as caring as he was, motioned to follow her but was stopped by Gogo as she advised him against it. "Best leave her alone. Who knows what she saw when they pulled Tadashi outta there."

It was true. The sight scared her to death. The smell of burnt flesh and blood, the tortured expression on his lifeless, dirty face, his missing leg. It kept flashing in bursts in front of her eyes as she sat on one of the hospital benches in front of the vending machine, trying to get a hold of herself. _'Breathe Lily, breathe.'_ She chanted, _'He's alive. He's alive. And that's all that matters.'_ The image once again flashing in front of her eyes as she held her head in her hands. "Oh, god." She sobbed and shivered. "Tadashi. Tadashi. Tadashi." Lily panted in large huffs. He could have died, oh merciful beings, he could have died, she thought, her shivering getting worse as she slowly retreated into her psyche.

A hoodie was then draped over her, stopping Lily's train of thought. Hiro sat on the seat beside her, looking at his feet on the tiled floor. She was a mess, she thought, almost laughing at herself for the downward spiral she had inevitably brought herself into. Look at her, she had known Tadashi for what? A few months? A year? And here she was having a breakdown while his brother, who had known him for as long as he could remember, his aunt, who raised him, and his friends, who he had spent almost a lifetime of adventures with, sat quietly outside his operating room, coping and supporting each other preparing themselves for what ever news might come out that door.

She spoke, after a while. "I wish I could be half as strong as you are, Hiro." she said, managing a small smile for the young boy who held her hand. Hiro didn't know how to respond to that and so, fearing he might say something stupid of offensive, decided to keep quiet and hold on to his brother's girlfriend's hand even tighter. If it wasn't for her, after all, he would have had lost it.

O—O

"Ah!" Tadashi hissed as moving his burnt arm unsettled his bandages. "What have I told you." Lily sighed tiredly. For an initially nice person, Tadashi was such a stubborn blockhead. "If you need something, tell me. If anything hurts, tell me. And again, if you need anything, **tell me**." She grumbled, placing the kid's puzzle she had set by the bedside table on his lap and softly kissed him on the lips. Tadashi, on top of his burns, had suffered damage in his nervous system upon the shock of the debris falling on him. They had amputated his left leg, deeming it too late to save, and he had yet to regain feeling on his other leg. What was worse though, Hiro shared, was that the damage to his nervous system did not only affect his legs but also his hands. He couldn't pick up the smaller puzzle pieces, Tadashi thought with horror during one of the physical therapy sessions he had a few days after the surgery. Grabbing mugs, moving large objects, that he could do. But anything smaller than that, he just... couldn't.

"Sorry, ma'am." Tadashi croaked with a smile, appreciating Lily's constant presence while he was under the hospital's care. The hospital's director fortunately had a personal favor he owed to San Fransokyo's Chief of Police. That being said, Lily's position as his caretaker was given blessing as she had more or less the right credentials, with the young woman never leaving Tadashi's side since he awoke.

It scared him at first, not being able to nimbly solve a rubix cube as well as he could have before the accident. Lily had told him that things like this would get better over time, as long as he keeps practicing; hence the children's puzzle he held in his hands, a few pieces escaping his grasp before he could put them into their rightful slot, frustrating him.

"Normally, I would apologize for snapping at you but you're just being unreasonable today, aren't you." Lily said, her smile contradicting her words. She had seen how hard Tadashi tried. How she would hear him grunt in frustration as he worked on his puzzle, sometimes seeing the board and it's pieces discarded on the floor with a broken young man on the sick bed. The doctors said it would take a miracle for him to regain any of his sense of coordination but she refused to believe that. She was not giving up on him. She knew he could do it. With a little encouragement and a lot of patience, may heaven and hell move, he will get better. She'll make sure of it.

"Lily, could you stay here with me for a bit?" Tadashi said sheepishly. Lily made out a soft flush on his cheeks making her laugh. "I'm already with you, silly." Pulling out her chair, she sat by his bedside giving his uninjured arm a squeeze, making sure not to disturb any of the IV drops attached to him. "I know," Tadashi said, doing his best to lightly squeeze back, ",just wanted you closer 's all."

Lily hummed happily, not helping a smile and another soft kiss to his lips before settling back down on his bed side, hands still intertwined.

O—O

It was a few weeks after that that Lily had discovered Hiro and the gang's recent "activities". Safe to say she was furious.

"What are you thinking?! You could get hurt!" Lily hissed, truly doing her best to not raise her voice. She knew how much Hiro meant to Tadashi, going as far as creating a protocol in Baymax to specifically constantly monitor his brother. If anything had happened to Hiro, Tadashi would be distraught. The gang and he had visited the hospital late in the evening, telling her about their discoveries on the truth of the explosion, Krei Tech and the microbots. Almost missing to mention to her how exactly Wasabi lost his car without Baymax's supplemented commentary. Thankfully, they were in the lobby and not in Tadashi's private room.

"He's the reason Tadashi's here in the first place! Why won't you understand?"

"You can't be sure of that! Report it to the police, tell the media, just _please_ do not be reckless!"

"I already did but nobody would listen! I _have_ to do it on my own!"

"Don't even think about going out there again or you're grounded!"

"Don't act like you're my family because you're not! You don't care about Tadashi! When he gets tired of you, I won't ever have to see you again!" Hiro yelled, stomping away from everyone. Lily stood, clenching at her heart. It hurt. That hurt.

"He didn't mean that, Lily. He was angry and upset, that's all." Honey Lemon tried to soothe her, the group of friends genuinely confused on what to make of the situation. "Just make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Please." Lily whispered, giving the group a sad smile. "I'll be alright."

"Lily-"

"That goes for you too, Baymax." Lily said, interrupting the robot. "Go on. Come visit again in the morning. Tadashi would love to see you all." Giving her one last glance, the group, including Baymax, left, following their best friend's brother.

Lily slowly made her way back to Tadashi's private room, finding her patient peacefully asleep. "I don't know how you handle him.", Lily sighed, brushing a few strands of hair from his face and giving a soft kiss to his temple.

O—O

Lily hadn't spoken to Hiro in a while, always making it a point to leave the room when he was visiting his brother. She knew what Hiro said to her was true. That she was temporary. Yes, she had told Tadashi she loved him and yes, he had said he loved her back, but didn't a lot of couples do that as well before never speaking to each other again? She really did love him, Lily thought, looking through a crack in the door as the brothers interacted happily with each other, their aunt and their family bot. She would help him get better, Lily thought resolutely. Whatever happened to them, she would make sure he got better. Lily smiled, opening the door after the family, exchanging a few words with Aunt Cass before eventually being left alone with Tadashi again.

"Hiro has the craziest stories." Tadashi chuckled, fingering a few parts Hiro had left for him to assemble, the boy making him promise to have it done by the next visit. "You should have heard it, Lils. Hiro has been up to serious stuff at SFIT." Sitting on the chair previously occupied by Hiro, Lily smiled weakly at the young man, "I'm sure he is. I'll make sure to ask him when I see him again."

Tadashi looked at the young woman in concern. He knew something had happened between her and his brother, with the sad look on her face, his brother's indifference to her presence, their lack of interaction. Tadashi also knew it was something they had to sort out themselves, but he couldn't help but empathize. It was Baymax who was originally planned to watch over him through his recovery, but it being too bizarre for the hospital's protocols, they preferred his caretaker to be human, despite the favors they pulled. Judging on how lively his brother was being as he spent his days with the nurse bot, Tadashi couldn't help but think it was a good idea leaving Baymax with him. He had Lily all to himself now because of it, after all.

"Hey, something bothering you?" Tadashi reached out to her, cupping her cheek and enjoying the feel of her skin. "Hey, you know I'm here for you, right?", he said gently. A sob suddenly escaped Lily as she quickly held a hand against her mouth. "Y-yeah.", she croaked, a few tears threatening to spill. Lily had been so strong for him, Tadashi thought, softening at his lover's state. She had stayed so strong, making sure to be the anchor everyone needed, making sure that he'd make it, making sure Hiro was safe, she was doing so much for them and she didn't even know it. Tadashi smiled, bearing his heart out to her. "Thank you, Lily. For everything.", he said looking as honestly as he could at her now teary eyes, "I love you."

That did it for the young doctor-to-be as she succumbed into a crumbling mess on her lover's bedside, sobs racking her body, tears staining the sheets. Of all the times, Tadashi thought, of all the times he couldn't hold her, this had to be the one. He painfully watched her, a few stray tears escaping his eyes as well as he gripped his lover's hand as tightly as he could, wanting so bad to stand up and give her everything she deserved. How did he end up with such a beautiful person, he thought.

"I love you too, Tadashi." Lily said in between sobs, feeling the space where Tadashi's left leg should have been as the thought made her shed even more tears. "I love you, too."

* * *

><p><strong>I wasn't satisfied with my care. uhu :(<strong>

**Thank you all for going on this journey with me for so long!**

**I won't be updating as often anymore but this series definitely will never be over as long as it still has readers. I'll be accepting prompts from what ever situation or universe you want to put the characters in and I will also be posting more chapters like this when I can.**

**Connect with me through my Tumblr blog (link in my profile) or leave me a PM when you feel like it.**

**More TadashiXOC fics I am personally following is The Painter and Our Sutures, just to ease the Tadashi feels. **


	16. From That Kiss

**Just to clear up some confusion, chapters after Chapter 14 will be stand-alone stories happening before, during or after the main timeline (Chapters 1 to 14), honoring this story's initial promise of being a "drabble series". I apologize for any misunderstandings.**

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><p>It was the morning after their first date, the previous evening ending with a meaningful kiss and a reluctant goodbye. Lily lay on her bed, a little bit groggy and disoriented but considerably giddy as she remembered the previous night's events. A wide grin escaping her lips, she couldn't help but squeal a little to herself as she bear-hugged her pillow and rolled around her bed for a little while longer. She couldn't wait to see him at the lab today.<p>

Tadashi awoke to a large snore and a nearby purr from his brother and Mochi, respectively. Blinking at the rude morning call and the sunlight seeping through his blinds as his eyes adjusted, Tadashi yawned. The suit that he rented the other day was still neatly hung on the cabinet across his bedside, making him remember the previous night's events. He grinned to himself. The evening went perfectly, as surprisingly as it did. The candle lights, the music, wonderful food by his aunt and most importantly, Lily being there to enjoy it all with him. He also managed to give Lily the ski trip tickets he had been saving since a month ago, Tadashi thought as he scooped Mochi off his chest and laid him back on the soft mattress. Touching his lips, remembering the mind-blowing kiss they shared the other night, Tadashi couldn't help but quickly do a small victorious happy dance before coughing and composing himself, hoping none of his brother's crazy inventions managed to record that. He couldn't wait to see her at the lab today.

With a skip to his step, Tadashi walked into the lab early that morning with a happy hum. "Well look who's in a good mood today.", Gogo greeted him as he entered. The biker was often the first one in the lab on mornings and Fred being the last to arrive among the group. "Morning, Gogo." Tadashi almost sung as he made his way to his division of the lab making Gogo chuckle and shake her head at her goofy friend. "You owe me a hundred bucks." she automatically texted Wasabi before getting back to work on her project.

Lily's heart beat fast as she walked into the lab that morning, research papers and a few books in hand. She had passed Professor Callaghan as she entered the building, talking to him briefly about hers and Tadashi's respective projects. "I hope he's been treating you well? I hear good things about you two from everyone at the lab." the professor said. "G-good things?" Lily squeaked, a slow flush making its way on her face. "Good things." the professor affirmed, " Keep up the "good" work, Ms. Huang." Professor Callahan left her with a gentle pat on the shoulder and a knowing smile, making the young lady's flush deepen as she scuffled to the laboratory.

"Morning, Lily!" Honey Lemon chirped as she passed her, carting a load of various chemicals of assorted types to her workbench. "Good morning, Honey." Lily smiled, always enjoying Honey Lemon's positive energy whenever they happened to hang out together. "Say Lil," Gogo drawled, casually walking towards her with a decently sized wrench on her hand. "What's up, Gogo?" In all honesty, Gogo totally intimidated Lily when they first met. She was a cool chick: aloof, level-headed, so sure of herself and confident, not to mention being a very capable speedster. Unlike Honey Lemon, who was easy enough to approach, Gogo was a challenge for Lily to open up to.

"Could you tell us what you and Tadashi were doing last night?" Gogo asked straight up, gesturing to her and a flustered Wasabi behind her making Lily's thought to have calmed down flush from a few minutes ago return full force. "Wh-what?" She squeaked again, making Gogo smirk mischievously at her. "I'm really sorry about this, Lily." Wasabi hurriedly said hissing a "this isn't the best time, Gogo" with the smaller woman waving her hand noncommittally at him to shush him. "Fess up," Gogo walked closer to the flustered young woman, whispering; "did you and Tadashi do the do?"

"What?!" Lily croaked, blush spreading down her neck, attracting a few head turns from whoever was nearby. It took a while for Lily to recover as two inquisitive faces awaited her answer, one with a confident smirk and the other with a more demure look but a just as curious gaze. "N-no! We just k-kissed, nothing more!"

"HA!" Wasabi cheered suddenly, startling Lily as she heard Gogo make a loud, frustrated groan. "PAY UP! I KNEW IT! I knew it, I knew it!" Wasabi cheered, playfully gloating around a sour-looking Gogo. "Wohooooo! Victory has never tasted so sweet!" The large man did a suave swing from side to side, helping Lily recover from her stupor and making her laugh a bit. "Make it rain, Tomago!"

"Can it, Ginger." Gogo grumbled, throwing a small wad of bills at the man as he continued gloating and dancing around her as they walked away from a now chuckling Lily. Shaking her head at the two's shenanigans, she made her way to where the initial source of her elevated heart rate lay: Tadashi's lab. Taking a deep breath, either in nervousness or anticipation, Lily wasn't sure, she pushed the double doors and entered the division.

As soon as Tadashi heard the doors to his part of the lab shut, Tadashi was ready to execute his completely fool-proof, super cool plan that'll have Lily fall head over heels in love with him. He was going to turn around, cool and sexy with a suave smile and walk towards her. "I forgot to thank you for last night." he would say. Wrapping his arms around her he'd dip down and give her an even more mind-blowing kiss that'll turn the girl of his dreams into putty in his arms.

Unfortunately, as he turned around, what he perfectly planned in his head wasn't what his body wanted him to exactly do. "Good morning, Tadashi." Lily said, unconsciously shuffling her feet and fiddling with a stray strand of her hair as she smiled at him. Tadashi clammed up. He just stared at her, in cold sweat, suddenly being hyper sensitive about everything about her. The small blush on her rosy cheeks, her fiddling fingers accompanying her nervous state, the morning sun playing with the contours of her lovely face and her soft lips, forming a shy smile just for him. "Morning!" he said, voice cracking. _'This wasn't in the plan, this wasn't in the plan!' _he thought to himself, alarmed.

Lily flushed under Tadashi's stare. He was embarrassed, that was for sure, but for what reason? Did he not enjoy their date after all? Did he want to break it off before things got too serious and was just thinking of a way to tell her? Lily shook away her doubts, remembering the looks he gave her and the things he said to her the night previous. If he was going to tell her something, he was going to tell her. He just needed time, that's the kind of person Tadashi is. At least that's what Lily hoped.

"Just going to walk over there, project and all." Lily smiled unsure, gesturing to her usual ledge. "S-sure, sure! Of course! Yeah, go right ahead. I-I'm just gonna be here. Working." Tadashi quietly groaned as he ran a frustrated hand down his face as his back faced Lily, bracing himself on one of the workbenches across Lily's usual spot. _'Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.'_ he berated himself. Who would ever want to get together with an uncool guy like him, he thought sadly to himself.

Both parties sulked for a few hours that morning, fumbling and blushing when one catches the other's staring, never really properly talking to each other. Tadashi kept working on a few tweaks and turns on Baymax's final design as Lily clacked away on her laptop, finishing her dissertation, both occasionally standing and unintentionally bumping into each other, ironically distracted by the other's methodical movements.

"S-sorry!" Lily squeaked, bumping into Tadashi. The young man worked up a sweat trying to organize everything in his work space, considering his project was done. A bead of sweat teased Lily as it traveled down from his beautifully sculpted jaw line and disappearing under his shirt. "'Nah, it's... fine." Tadashi said, dazed. She smelled lovely, Tadashi thought, catching a small whiff of Lily's cologne. It was the same one she wore the other night at their date. Like garden grass and something else he couldn't exactly put his finer on.

Lily unconsciously licked her lips. Tadashi gulped. The tension too much for him to bear, Tadashi leaned in, fully intending to kiss her whether she liked it or not. Lily's anticipation reached an anti-climax as the bill of Tadashi's hat roughly hit her forehead, completely destroying the mood.

"Ow!"

"Gah! I'm sorry!"

"Lily. I have been alerted to the sound of distress."

"Baymax!"

The situation gradually turned south with the newly developed inflating robot activating and fussing over the both of them before finally deactivating, diagnosing them both of "arousal". Tadashi groaned for real this time, using his cap to cover his face in embarrassment as Lily stood awkwardly in front of him.

"I'm sorry." He said, voice slightly muffled as he had kept the offending accessory on his face. "It's okay." Lily smiled with a blush, finding the whole situation embarrassing yet amusing now. Gently taking the hand Tadashi used to hold the hat against his face into her own, she slowly pried it off him, revealing a flustered yet well-meaning young man.

"I'm so lame." He unintentionally whined.

"Yes, yes you are." Lily chuckled, placing his hat on the table he leaned on and circling her arms around his waist, Tadashi automatically resting a hand on her lower back.

Cupping her cheek, Tadashi sighed. "Lily Huang," he started as Lily enjoyed the smell of his breath, "will you, oh pure lovely maiden of San Fransokyo, permit thee, unworthy soul, to soil thine lips with my own slightly chappy ones but I swear you won't regret it."

Lily snorted, "Not a very good charmer are you, Mr. Hamada?"

"Swear I'm a good kisser, though." Tadashi grinned boyishly, gaining a little bit more confidence as Lily giggled.

"Can I? Kiss you, I mean." He whispered, already leaning in.

"You don't really have to ask." Lily whispered back, meeting him halfway.

Tadashi exhaled through his nose, holding Lily closer as she tilted her head. "Ha..." Lily breathed as she briefly broke away before Tadashi claimed her lips again in a deep, slow kiss. Soft sounds from the pair surrounded the small laboratory, disturbing the peace in the room that late morning. "...Mhmm..." Tadashi hummed, enjoying the light scratches Lily ran down his back as they kissed. "Someone could...come in..." Lily said in between kisses. Tadashi ignored all reason, not getting enough of her as he sighed. Right now, he couldn't care less about anything other than kissing this wonderful person in his arms. They could watch, for all he cared.

True enough, the sound of a shutter clicking broke the moment.

The door, partly opened, revealed the curious, some slightly flushed, faces of Gogo, Wasabi, Fred and Honey Lemon as the latter smiled sheepishly. "Oops." Honey Lemon looked apologetic. "Forgot to turn off the sound."

"GUYS!" Tadashi screamed, voice once again cracking as he shielded Lily's embarrassed face by tucking her head under his chin by his shoulder.

* * *

><p><strong>Inspired by the kissing meme done by Miazaki-san (link in my profile) and prompts from keller75863548274483 on Tadashi and Lily having a make-out session (gosh I'm so scared I might go past the rating, I don't want this story to be M either) and partly fulfilling Shnitzel's request on more friendly interactions between Lily and the gang.<strong>


	17. Being Gross with You

**Alive!Tadashi AU**

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><p>"Lily..." Tadashi groaned. The couple had rented a small apartment near the physical rehab center Tadashi goes to every now and then for check-ups. It had been three years since the accident happened, with a heck lot of other things happening in between. Now, Tadashi was taking a mid-afternoon nap in the space's living room before he felt a body climb on top of him. "Oof! Don't move too much, you're heavy." he grunted with a groggy smile making it's way to his lips as he heard a soft giggle. Lily had managed to snuggle into his shirt, laying on top of him stomach-first. Head peeping out of his shirt's collar, Lily smiled. "First of all, no I'm not." she said, laughing at Tadashi's playful snort, "Secondly," Lily pinched a small fatty plump on Tadashi's side, making the young man yelp, stretching the shirt they now both wore. "You just looked adorable, I couldn't help it."<p>

She _had_ gotten heavier, Tadashi thought fondly, circling his arms around his girlfriend with her sharing his shirt kind of making the task more difficult considering their position. Lily smiled as she looked down at him, noticing a bad facial stubble, a few small pimples and a some blackheads here and there on his otherwise perfect face. "So what was so important that you had to disturb me from my peaceful, dreamless slumber?" Tadashi teased, feeling Lily's fingers tracing small circles on his chest under his shirt.

"I wanted to wake sleeping beauty up with a kiss." Lily replied cheekily, bopping noses with him.

"Ah, but you woke him up with an elbow to the gut instead. Very nice." Tadashi grinned as Lily rolled her eyes.

"Well?"

"Well what?

"I'm still waiting for that kiss." Tadashi then puckered his lips, making moist kissy noises at his girlfriend. Lily laughed.

"Nerd." Lily accused, leaning down to share a slow, meaningful kiss with her man anyway.

The couple had settled down after a while, content with just sharing body heat and Tadashi's shirt on the couch. Lily spoke after a while, "Hey". Tadashi grunted, already dozing back off, "Yeah?". Feeling Lily shower his face with quick kisses, she said, "Want me to pop your blackheads?"

Tadashi sighed, kissing her back somewhere on her face he couldn't pinpoint because he was too sleepy to care. "Go ahead.", he mumbled, letting sleep take him a few seconds later.


	18. Putting Two and Two Together

A good day is a back-breaking day for Andrew Huang. Lily smiled pitifully at her hardworking dad as he grunted when the heat of the hot compress hit his skin. It was a busy day for the San Fransokyo Police Department with the Prime Minister's visit instigating another swarm of rioters. No one was hurt on either side of the party, thankfully, but man did it do a number on an old man's joints. Andrew Huang was a hands-on type of man, sure he could do the paperwork required of him as the Chief of Police, but more often than not, those at the station knew that it was extremely rare to find their boss in his office. When backup was called to control the rioters and considering he was already close to the area, Andrew went down and gave them the well-needed backup.

"You work too hard, dad." Lily smiled, feeling proud of having such a passionate father. Always standing for what he believed in and always doing his best to help were some of the very many traits Lily found wonderful about her dad. Being too hard of a worker, though; that was a trait Andrew was sure his daughter had inherited. "Speak for yourself, princess." Andrew chuckled, stretching his arms and legs, immediately regretting it right after. "Don't be so stubborn! Just sit up and relax." Lily admonished her father, standing up and helping him sit up on the bed's headboard. "I'm not an invalid, princess. I can take care of m'self." Andrew chuckled at his daughter's fussing. Lily was a playful child when she was younger, quiet, but playful. She often sat with him in his police car when he was still a Lieutenant way back when, the sassy little thing she was, telling off his subordinates when she thought they were messing something up, which they were, Andrew liked to think.

"If this keeps up, you won't get to sleep at all." Lily huffed, making her way out of the master bedroom. Hearing Lily enter her room and eventually coming out dressed in a loose sweater and a pair of pants as she pocketed her phone and wallet, Andrew called out to her. "Where are you going?"

"To the pharmacy! You'll thank me later!" Lily yelled before exiting the house.

The neighborhood Lily lived in was a relatively safe place, especially now that a huge Krei Tech construction was happening right at their front door, Lily thought as she trekked back home, a paper bag of a few ointments for her dad in hand. So imagine her surprise when a tuft of messy black hair barreled into her as she walked past an alley.

"Oof!" They both grunted, blinking at the impact. "Hey, watch where you're going!" Lily wobbled, her paper bag thankfully not soiled on the damp street. Turning around, Lily thought that the short lanky figure sitting across her on the pavement looked oddly familiar. "Hiro?" Lily gasped incredulously. "We have got to stop meeting like this." The boy grinned cheekily. "What are you-"

Cutting Lily off mid-sentence was an alarmingly aggressively manly yell. "There he is!", it yelled, the sound coming from deeper in the alley. Hiro, quickly scampering up, grabbed Lily's wrist and sprinted. "RUN!" Hiro yelled in alarm with a struggling Lily in tow.

To Lily's horror, a gang of five ripped, tattoo-clad, men chased them down the street as the pair now ran for their lives. "Hiro!" Lily gasped, already out of Hiro's grip and now running beside him. "Were you botfighting?!", she huffed, turning round the corner with the teen. "Open manhole!" Hiro warned before Lily managed to jump over the opened metal ring in time. "Well?!" Lily grunted, looking at Hiro as he snickered after one of the men fell in instead. "Hiro!" She hit him lightly on the shoulder as they ran. "Maaaybe!" Hiro grinned at her cutely.

"Don't "maybe" me!" She scoffed, losing her breath. She needed to work out, Lily though morosely as she felt her legs burn and breaths turn short. "Look out!" Hiro yelled, yanking on her sweater and taking her down with him as a frisbee-shaped robot whizzed past where her head used to be. "What the-", she gasped, looking back at the direction where the robot came from, seeing one of the men with the controls. "Through here!" Hiro hissed, helping Lily up and taking her into a secluded alleyway near where the bot nearly took them down.

How did Hiro know where all these places were? Lily thought both in awe and alarm as the boy took her through different twists and turns through the small streets in her neighborhood. A display case of fireworks in a small colorful stall, a group of rowdy men betting on a mahjong game in the far corner, even a small hidden jazz bar down the road caught her eye as they ran down the small alley. How did she not see these places before? Looking down at the young boy gripping her wrist, leading her to who-knows-where, Lily thought that this young one was so full of wonder. Just like his brother, she added fondly to herself.

Feeling something whiz past her, Lily looked around in alarm. "Crap! I thought we lost them!" Hiro said, eyes following a familiar frisbee-shaped robot. Senses coming back to her, Lily yelped, relieving Hiro of the burden of dragging her as she carried her weight and ran beside him. "Aw, man, I am so screwed!" Hiro whined, already out of breath. Lily knew if this kept up, neither of them would be able to run fast enough to lose the goons. Seeing a lone vending machine by a secluded corner, it was Lily's turn to grab on to Hiro's hoodie as she steered him sharply by the next turn.

"Ow! What was that f-"

"Shh!" Lily hushed him, firmly placing her hand against his mouth for good measure as she held him close to her while they hid behind the machine. "Mmph!" Hiro squirmed. The goon stood to a halt at the nearby intersection "Where'd they go?" Lily heard on of them grunt. Eventually, after a rough scuffle between the men, they had split up in different directions, not including the alley where the pair hid. Feeling an uncomfortably gooey tongue smear her palm, Lily shrieked. "Ew!" She yelled, letting go of Hiro.

"Ugh! You taste horrible!"

"Then why'd you lick me, genius!"

"You were smothering me! I couldn't breathe!" Hiro hissed back, both already sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the dirty, damp concrete behind the vending machine.

Lily sighed frustratingly, twisting her shoulder a bit as it ached after all of Hiro's pulling. Those ointments sound really good right now, Lily thought.

"Sorry if I hurt you." Hiro mumbled, looking at her uncomfortably flexing her arm. Lily smiled at the boy, despite his rowdy, rebellious front, Hiro was a good kid. A really spunky, super-smart, overly adventurous, good kid. "Naw, I'm ok. Just need to go out more, I guess." Lily grinned, aggressively ruffling his hair as Hiro laughed, playfully trying to swat away her arm. "Not your fault, kiddo."

"Hey! I think I hear something!" A man grunted a few ways not too far away from where they were. The pair immediately quieted, heart rates increasing as they looked at each other in alarm. Lily had kept her hand on Hiro's shoulder, squeezing it as they both held a breath as they heard footsteps go closer to where they hid.  
>The vending machine made a sound, startling Lily. This time, it was Hiro's turn to put his palm against her lips. "Shh", he mouthed as Lily blinked and slowly nodded when she had calmed down. After taking what he paid for, the man's footsteps slowly backed away as he met up with his other pals.<p>

"What should we do?" Hiro hissed to Lily in alarm, aware that any sudden noises could attract the men's attention to where they hid.

"How should I know? Call your brother!" Lily hissed back, Hiro's state of unrest not helping her rattling.

"What- you're supposed to be the adult here!" Hiro replied, both still speaking in sharp whispers.

"Not if a gang of tattooed mad men twice the size of my dad are hunting me down! Call your brother!"

_'No way.'_ Hiro thought. He was _not_ going to get grounded again. In no way is he ever letting his brother, of all people, know what he was doing that night. That week, actually, now that he thought about it. "Don't you have like, I dunno, _other_ friends?" Hiro tried.

Hearing voices getting closer to them, Lily panicked "Call you brother, Hiro Hamada, or I will cut you open and donate your organs to the OPOs!", she threatened, quickly shoving her phone in his hands. Lily quietly unplugged the vending machine and, in a bout of adrenaline, pushed it as hard as she could, making it topple down on to the approaching men.

Hiro squeaked, immediately noticing his brother's number in Lily's speed dial list as the young woman grabbed his upper arm and ran out of the small corner with him, trailing through a different alley.

"Uh hi! Tadashi!" Hiro breathed, running alongside Lily. She was thankful she had a good memory, Lily thought as she led Hiro back the way they came to the main road, taking a few unexpected turns to avoid some goons. "Why am I panting? Haha, funny you should mention that…" Hiro said uneasily.

Lily groaned, tired of hearing Hiro trying to talk his way out of this one. Seriously, which was more threatening to the kid? Getting killed or getting grounded? _'Probably the latter.'_ she thought blandly.

"Give me that!" She grunted, trying to reach for the phone whilst keeping her pace as they made their way down the street. They were pretty far from the pharmacy, Lily realized as they finally exited the alleyway. And far from the pharmacy meant farther from her house, she added sadly. She just hopes Tadashi will get to them on time.

"What?! No!" Hiro panted, stretching his arm away from Lily's reach as he tried fending her arm away with his other one.

Playing swordplay with their hands, Lily grunted. "Give. The freaking-"

"Guys? What's going on?" Tadashi could be heard faintly on the other line, the static and their bickering making it hard for him to understand anything that was happening._ 'I knew I should've sown on those trackers.'_ Tadashi thought, already on his way to Lily's house. When Lily's number showed up on his phone, he couldn't lie, his heart skip a beat. Actually it did somersaults. Tadashi, by then, had already established a solid, majorly creepy, totally embarrassed about but secretly enjoying it crush on his project consultant.

They had exchanged numbers a week ago but he never built up the guts to text her first. Was he being too obvious? Coming on too strong? Too clingy for her tastes? What about "the rule" Fred told him about? Plagued by these questions and heavy self-doubt, Tadashi Hamada had, once again, failed to make a move on a pretty girl. So when Lily just happened to call him first, he was exastic.

But when it was his brother's voice that greeted him, well, there just had to be something wrong, wasn't there?

"I didn't do anything!" Hiro's voice was heard more clearly this time on the other end of the line before another bout of static assaulted the phone's speakers followed by a high-pitched "Second street to the next intersection from my place! Help!"

Bristling with worry, Tadashi sped up his motorbike, tucking his phone in his pocket. _'One time. One time a girl you actually have the hots for calls you first and she's running for her life with your younger brother. Awesome, Hamada.'_ Tadashi grumbled to himself, letting out his built up frustration he yelled, "Your chances with her are negative out of a hundred, Hamada! NEGATIVE OUT OF A FLIPPING HUNDRED!", as he sped down the street.

Hiro and Lily were running towards a light post by the intersection when they saw a familiar single headlight make it's way towards them from the adjacent street. "Tadashi!" Hiro cheered, hurriedly scrambling towards his brother and immediately hopping on to the moped. Shoving the better helmet on to Hiro's head and handing Lily his own with a smile, Tadashi made Hiro scootch closer to him to make room for the young woman. "Boy, am I glad to see you!" Hiro grinned at his brother. "Hiro was botfighting!" Lily immediately telled, her heart beat still on high. Sweater askew, grime and mud sticking to her pants and face and her dad's ointments mucked up and messy inside the miraculously beat-up but still seemingly untouched paper bag, Lily was having none of Hiro's antics today.

"WOW, Thanks a LOT, Lily!" Hiro groaned, elbowing her side. Lily replied with her own shove to the boy's shoulder. Finding the sight worrisome but twistedly cute, Tadashi smiled. And Hiro was out botfighting. Yeah. _'And I'm not even mad.'_ Tadashi thought stiffly to himself, quick bursts of the past nerve-wracking thirty minutes flashing through his eyes. _'I'm not even mad.'_, he thought again before aggressively gripping and turning the accelerator of his moped.

Startled by the jolt, Hiro and Lily stopped their squabbling. "You okay, bro?" Hiro asked, peeking over his brother's shoulder.

_'Just dandy, Hiro.'_ Tadashi thought to himself, giving his brother a look whilst doing his best not to blow up in front of Lily. _'Just DANDY.'_

Hearing large footsteps approaching, Lily yelped, tightly holding on to Tadashi's shoulder. "Ack! Go, GO!" Revving up the engine, Tadashi sped back the way he came, now outrunning the men chasing his brother and Lily.

"Whooo! That was so cool!" Hiro cheered. Feeling the sour undertone of the two adults he was sandwiched in between, Hiro sulked. "I'm grounded, aren't I?"

"Yes." Lily and Tadashi said in unison, catching each other's eye on the side mirror and smiling, a small blush slowly forming on each other's cheeks despite the situation.

Finally arriving in Lily's front yard, Hiro groaned. "Ugh! Alright! Geez, stop ganging up on me." he wailed, hopping out of the moped, freely flopping himself on the grass. Tadashi sighed, "I'm really sorry you about whatever my brother got you into." he said, scratching the back of his neck and looking sheepishly at the young woman standing in front of him. She was a mess. Tadashi had to chuckle, seeing her huff whilst trying to fix her now messy hair with a smile. A really beautiful mess, he thought dreamily.

"It's okay. Despite the possible life-death dilemma, I kinda had fun." Lily laughed, clipping Tadashi's helmet back on his head for him. "And take it easy on Hiro. Grounded for the weekend, tops." She winked, sharing a laugh, a look and a returning blush with the older Hamada brother.

Hiro now stood in between his brother and Lily, looking at either of them in turns as they made googly eyes at each other. Lily standing and fiddling with her paper bag, Tadashi half-sitting on his moped as his hands gripped and flexed the handlebars, both looking at each other, completely oblivious to the world and the younger Hamada brother. A few seconds later, something clicked in Hiro's head. "Do you guys like each other?" Hiro said suddenly, startling the pair.

"Wh-what? N-no! I-I mean yeah but not like that that, which I mean..."

"It's not like I don't like him like him, but yeah, I just like him regularly too and..."

The two thought to be adults started babbling at the same time, both digging their own graves as Hiro's grin gradually grew after every word spilling through each of their mouths.

"Why are you grinning like that? What are you thinking, seriously it's not what you think..."

"Hiro, I swear to you, this has nothing to do with what happened today, it's not what it seems like..."

"Ooooooooooh! OOOOOOOOOHHH!" Hiro then later started chanting and hopping, pointing at the pair. Tadashi groaned, hiding his face under his arms.

"Da-shi and Li-ly sittn' in a tree!" Hiro sung, circling them and making a ruckus in the quiet neighborhood. "I'm so sorry." Tadashi groaned, flush spreading down his neck. "I'm sorry, too." Lily squeaked, hiding her face in her hands, ears a bright red.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

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><p><strong>Inspired by DisneyandWildKrattfangirl's prompt on Tadashi and Lily saving Hiro from another botfight, a guest's prompt on Hiro and Lily bonding like siblings and <strong>GiraffePana2's prompt on Hiro teasing Tadashi and Lily<strong>.**


	19. Nice and Easy

Remember that secluded jazz bar Lily and Hiro passed while on the run a month ago? Seemed like Fred and Wasabi knew exactly what Tadashi was talking about as he told them about the few adventures, that he knew of, his brother had with his new girlfriend before they got together. To celebrate their compadre's admirable feat of commitment that morning, the group of three bros decided to have an exclusive guys only night out, Wasabi deciding to spend it at the jazz bar they talked about earlier.

None of the boys were big jazz fans but considering both Tadashi and Wasabi preferred a quiet night out to relax and Fred personally knew the bartender, all three decided to celebrate at the small jazz bar to enjoy a few drinks and soft music. "Honest. I really didn't think you could do it, Tadashi." Wasabi chuckled, giving his friend a quick pat on the shoulder as the three made their way down the narrow alley. True enough, not once did Tadashi feel agitated as he walked through the streets of Lily's neighborhood. Crime rates in this side of town were always at a minimum, limiting the cases to mild theft and the occasional shoplifting. Having San Fransokyo's Chief of Police living down the block had something to do with it probably, Tadashi shivered, remembering his first and only encounter with Mr. Huang.

He gave the young man the jeebies, being such a bulk and all and glaring down at him as Tadashi briefly talked to Lily. "Well our man isn't the best of charmers, is he, Wasabi?" Fred drawled, turning the corner to the secluded bar. "Very funny, guys. I'm plenty of a charmer." Tadashi grunted, shaking off the knowledge of his looming obligation to actually talk to the father Huang and tell him that he's_dating his daughter_.

"Hey is your e-mail beautifulgirl at mydreams dot com?" Wasabi posed, tilting his imaginary ball cap, toning his voice down an octave.

"Is that supposed to be me?" Tadashi deadpanned as Fred guffawed.

The trio went down the short steps, Tadashi giving Wasabi's shoulder a playful punch as they entered the quaint bar. The faint smell of alchohol and the sound of soft jazz from the small band on stage immediately assaulted their senses. Tadashi whistled, "Nice place." A faint yellow glow circled the dimly lit room, as a few vintage shelves and furniture decorated the main floor and stage giving the place a calming rustic feel. One would be surprised to see the shop's interior, judging how it looked from the outside. Tadashi liked the place already.

"Pick a table, mi amigos. Just gonna chat with my ol' pal Herbert over there and drinks will be on me in a cinch!" Fred glided across the main floor towards the bar as Wasabi and Tadashi gave him incredulous looks, finding a table and seats. "I don't know how he does it." Tadashi chuckled, humming along to the band's light music. "I know, right? How does he get all these free stuff all the time?" Wasabi scratched his head, remembering the other times Fred managed to get all of them either free food or new equipment just by talking to the handler. "Some people just have that charm, I guess." Tadashi shrugged, seeing a the bartender tail Fred as they both made their way to the table. "Drink for my good men here please, Herbert." Fred presented after flopping down on a chair beside Wasabi as the waiter served their orders.

"So, mon petit," Fred drawled, taking a swig of his Bombay Sapphire Gin, raising a suggestive brow at his just taken bro friend, "... got any plans for your big first?"

Tadashi bristled. "My first big what?" he squeaked, taking an unintentionally large gulp of his drink then feeling the uncomfortable burning sensation down his throat making him gag. Among everyone in the group, Tadashi was the one who drank the least, big brother setting a good example and all. And Tadashi hated hang overs after trying it himself once when he was in high school so he promised himself he'd never get that wasted ever again. "First date, first make out session, first intercourse, you name it." Wasabi enumerated, calmly sipping his drink. "God, Wasabi." Tadashi sighed, covering his face with his arm on the table.

Sure he's got a bit of experience in that field, he wasn't celibate, Tadashi thought, taking a small sip off his cup. He's got game, at least that's what he'd like to think, not willing to answer Fred's question. But Lily, though. Tadashi sighed making his friends snicker as they recognized that sigh and look from anywhere. _'Lily's special.'_, he grinned to himself briefly remembering this morning's events. "A-anyway, why don't we just sit here and let me enjoy the fact that I finally had the guts to tell Lily how I feel and ask her to be my girlfriend, ok?"

"You what?" The man sitting on the table behind him grunted. Turning around, Tadashi only hoped and prayed to the universe that the man, whose voice oddly resembled a certain San Fransokyo Chief of Police and someone who he definitely wasn't entirely prepared to see right now, wasn't who he thought he was.

Andrew Huang turned on his chair to face the young man who loudly gulped. The universe totally hated him. "H-hi, Mr. Huang." Tadashi peeped hearing a faint "ooooh" from Fred behind him. "You and I need to talk." Andrew grunted, placing a firm hold on the young man's shoulder, steering him up and away from their group towards a pair of bar stools by the counter.

Tadashi was sweating, his hat suddenly feeling too stuffy for him right now as he fidgeted in his seat beside the older, much larger, stronger and more experienced in combat man. "Stop moving boy, I'm trying to think." Andrew grunted, enjoying the prolonged agony he put the boy through. Lily had texted him that afternoon, telling him about the boy she liked confessing his feelings to her. The father Huang already had a pretty good idea of what happened, remembering those years ago when _he_ had confessed to his wife for the first time. He took a large swig of his drink, finishing the whole mug in one swoop, greatly intimidating the younger, less alcohol-resistant male that was supposedly his daughter's new boyfriend. "Well?" Andrew lifted a brow, ordering another pair of large drinks for himself and the boy, "Got something to say, boy?"

"I-I-I'm-" Tadashi panicked, trying to control his stuttering "I'm Tadashi H-Hamada, student at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology with no criminal records whatsoever, sir!" he mentally slapped himself. _'The heck, Hamada.' _Tadashi thought, feeling like melting into the ground and seeping through the cracks as his dreams of lovingly holding Lily in his arms melted away with him.

"Hm. I already knew that." I checked. Andrew grunted, adding the last bit to himself, accepting the drink handed to him while sliding the other to the boy as he almost missed catching it. "What else?" Despite his rough handling, the older Huang was actually pretty patient with him, Tadashi thought, fully expecting a punch to the jaw the moment the man saw him.

Tadashi coughed, fiddling with his hat. _'You can do this, Hamada. You can do this.'_ he thought to himself. God, he was even more nervous now than when he had confessed to Lily that morning. "I-I know I'm not the best pick." Tadashi started as he faced his girlfriend's father's profile, "And I'm pretty sure I'm going to mess up somehow along the way," he paused, hearing the older man grunt, "b-but I'd like to be given a chance, sir." Tadashi gulped, "If you'd let me."

Andrew looked at the fidgeting young man in the corner of his eye. He looked earnest. Ready to piss himself, probably, but earnest. And he'd seen the kid before, remembering the case with his parents years ago. Who would've thought that it'd be his daughter of all people, Andrew thought, finishing his drink.

"Promise to take care of her and you've got a deal." Andrew finally grunted at the young man.

Tadashi blinked in disbelief. _'That's it?'_, he thought. "... Are you serious?"

"Want me to take that back, then?", Andrew lift a brow. What did the kid expect? A showdown?

"N-no! No! I just... thought you'd be harder on me and all... considering I'm asking to go out with your daughter... and things." Tadashi mumbled, progressively blushing as his hormonal brain kicked in, briefly skimming the details of such "other things".

Andrew sighed, fully knowing the boy's head was in the gutter by now with the older man trying not to get too agitated. For his daughter's sake. "I've got my reasons, kid. If you weren't you, I'd give that man hell. Know that."

Tadashi relaxed, tension immediately leaving his body as he finally took a last swig of his drink, swallowing the bitter beverage that was served to him. "Yes, sir." he had to smile a bit at the man. Andrew Huang wasn't as stern of a man Tadashi thought he was. _'No wonder Lily told me her dad was just a huge teddy bear.'_ It was always difficult for Tadashi to see Lily related to such an intimidating man. She was gentle, caring, supportive, occasionally spunky and just so dainty compared to her father. But seeing the bulk of a man that was San Fransokyo's Chief of police sit languidly on his bar stool, a bottle of beer in hand and lightly tapping his foot on the hard wood floor in tune with the music, Tadashi thought that he and Lily were more alike than they thought.

"Say, do you sing?" Andrew suddenly said, motioning to stand up.

"Pardon?"

"Do you sing? You know, air out of your moth makes sound?"

"Well technically..." Tadashi opened his mouth to correct him. "...nevermind." he deflated thinking now wasn't the best time to butt heads with San Fransokyo's Cheif of Police. "Yeah. A bit, I'm not that good, though."

"Hm. Nice surprise." Andrew smirked, reaching into his pocket and tossing an old mp3 player to the young man. "Give this a listen and we're up in five. Heard you were smart so you better not mess up. Good luck, kid."

"Wait, what?!" Quickly catching the device, Tadashi gawked. What do you mean "we're up on five"?!

_'Nice N' Easy by Michael Bublé'_ Tadashi read, listening to the first verse, doing his best to memorize the whole song in one go. He saw Andrew at the other end of the room talking to a group of other gentlemen gesturing to him from time to time. Each man in the group had an instrument in hand, a few with some trumpets, including Andrew, one with a bass and another with a pair of drum sticks. _'They're a jazz band'_. Tadashi realized, seeing another man looking apologetic at everyone else in the group as he coughed and appeared to have a runny nose. _'That's probably their vocalist.'_ Tadashi deduced, seeing Andrew turn to him and gesturing if he had finished listening to the song. He replied the negative as he continued to hum to the music.

"Where the heck is Tadashi?" Wasabi nudged Fred worriedly, looking around the bar seeing no trace of their petrified friend. Fred shrugged. "Buried down a ditch probably."

The pair heard a new band come up on stage, the instruments tuning catching their attention. And to their surprise, their thought to be dead bro was fidgeting up on stage with Lily's dad standing beside him with the microphone and a trumpet on either's hand. "The fuck?" Wasabi scrunched his face "Is that... Is that Tadashi?!" he said incredulously. "Way ahead of you, bro." Fred grunted, taking out his smartphone and aiming it at the stage where their friend stood.

Tadashi's pulse was beating fast. He just hoped he wouldn't pass out in the middle of the song, he worriedly thought, the reassuring smiles the older men in the band gave him making him feel a little bit better being on stage. "Ready, kid?" Andrew smirked. Looking back at the man, Tadashi awkwardly smiled, "Do I have a choice?" The drummer started counting, signaling everyone to get ready to start the song. "Not really." Andrew said before blowing on the trumpet on cue, starting the song. _'Okay, Tadashi. You can do this.' _He breathed, letting out a breath before singing. "Let's take it nice and easy..."

_'Kid's not bad.'_ Andrew thought sparing the boy a glance. He had a husky voice, a tad bit higher-pitched and lighter than their original vocalist's but it had a fresh ring to it that wasn't that bad at all. "'Cuz nice and easy does it, every time..." Tadashi continued, starting to enjoy himself as he swayed from side to side.

The song ended with a loud cheer and applause from the audience, a few inappropriate howls from Fred back at their table, earning Tadashi a few hard pats on the back. "You did good, Tadashi." Andrew congratulated the boy, not helping a rough tousle on his capped head.

"Thank you, sir." Tadashi breathed, happy to have helped the group, already feeling fond of the middle-aged men he had performed with.

"Call me Andrew. And you better get used to it." Andrew chuckled, playing a few short tunes on his trumpet as he proudly walked around the stage, messing with the other trumpeters already on there.

"Hey kid," the drummer of the group whistled, "Up for one more song?"

Tadashi smiled. "Yeah."

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><p><strong>Inspired by prompts from pepperedmint on Tadashi asking Daddy Huang on letting him court Lily and guest's on Tadashi singing (was supposed to be Tadashi singing to Lily but yeah, we'll work that out eventually).<strong>

**Wasabi's joke was also from a post I saw on Tumblr (link in my profile).  
><strong>


	20. A Date

**Your support and readership give me life. Thank you.**

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><p>Tadashi rarely cancels on her, Lily sighed as she rode the tram. They were supposed to watch the lights display together at the Torii Park that evening. <em>'I was looking forward to it, too.'<em> Lily sulked, fingering the hem of her skirt.

Out of nowhere a tourist bus broke down across the street from the Lucky Cat Cafe. On normal days, Cass and her staff can usually take care of the regular number of customers themselves but with the sudden arrival of all the tourists from that bus, they couldn't handle any more and enlisted Hiro and Tadashi to help.

"I'm really sorry, Lils but I just can't leave Aunt Cass when the cafe's so busy like this." Tadashi said from the other line when he called her.

"I know." Lily sighed, him just seeing the pout on her face making his chest ache a bit.

"Hey, I'll take you out for dinner tomorrow, how does that sound?" He tried, sounding hopeful. "Chicken ceasar and a kiwi-strawberry smoothie? I know you love kiwi-strawberry smoothies."

Tadashi felt horrible, he knew Lily was so looking forward to watching the light display with him, but he just couldn't leave the cafe like this, not when his aunt is yelling through the kitchen door, oven ablaze and counter a mess. "Not if you won't let me treat you to some Mabo Tofu. You do love your spices, mister." He heard Lily reply with a giggle.

"It's a date." Tadashi finally smiled. "Bro! Could use your help down here!", he heard Hiro yell from downstairs.

"I'm coming!", he replied. "Hiro need you?" Lily said with a sad tone. "Yeah, better get going." Tadashi replied with his own. Lily smiled to herself. Despite having their plans cancelled, she was proud Tadashi always put his family first above other things. It's what makes him special, she guessed. "Alright. Take care, ok? Make sure Hiro doesn't sass any of the customers away." Tadashi chuckled, reluctant to put the phone down. "Eh, the cafe could use lesser customers."

He heard Lily laugh, the sound oddly relaxing despite the static. "I'll see you on monday." she said. Tadashi sighed, "Yeah, see you." A second before Lily could hang up, Tadashi loudly blurted, "Lily, I-"

"Yeah?"

"I-" What was he going to say? Tadashi thought, surprised by his own outburst. "I-I'll call you. When we're done."

"Okay, I'll wait up for you." Lily sounded unsure, probably confused after he just yelled at her. "Good night, Tadashi."

"Yeah, g'night." After hanging up, Tadashi lightly banged his head on the cabinet and groaned. _'Why'd you do that, stupid?'_ he berated himself. Was he just about to say the big one-four-three to her? Now? After a week together?

"Tadashi!" Hiro yelled from downstairs again. "I'm coming! I'm coming!" he replied, pulling himself together and rushing down the stairs as quickly as he could.

Now, Lily rode the tram as she was on her way to the nerd lab as per Tadashi's text. It was a few minutes past eleven when he suddenly texted her to meet him at the lab. Lily didn't know why and when she asked, he refused to tell. Safe to say that Lily was a bit irritated considering he just cancelled their date and asked her to meet up with him at an ungodly hour in one evening. _'I am not a pushover, Hamada.'_ she huffed, entering the lab.

The place was deserted, excluding the security guard and a few lights in the hallway. As she entered Tadashi's side of the laboratory, lured in by the sound of clinking glass and oddly familiar mumbling, she pushed open the double doors.

What greeted her was something she had not expected to see when Tadashi told her to come that evening. The whole of the room was laced with pale lights, a warm yellow glow being the dominant color mixed with a few blues and reds. Soft music played in the background giving the lab a very similar feel to their first date and a blue blanket was laid out abeit hurriedly by her nest near the window with her purple pillow taking the spotlight near a bottle of champagne and a picnic basket.

"Lily!" Tadashi gasped, suddenly standing up from crouching on the floor and accidentally knocking his head on a low shelf. "Agh!"

Hearing a familiar beep and hissing sound, Baymax activated. "Nononono." Tadashi mumbled, running over to Lily and gently pushing her out the door. "Wait here." He ordered, kissing her quickly on the cheek before running back in the lab with a yelp and a sound of something breaking.

Lily snickered to herself, trying to hold back the laugh as more sounds of chaos were made from the other side of the door. "I'm satisfi-oof! I'm satisfied with my care! I'm satisfied with my care!" She heard Tadashi yell followed by a crashing sound that made her cringe.

After a while it was quiet, making Lily bristle with worry. "Tadashi?" she called. "Y-You can come in now!" she heard him say.

Lily entered as Tadashi greeted her with an unsure "Surpriiiise!" as he awkwardly stood in the center of the room. The room looked exactly like how she first saw it, lights, music, blue blanket and all. A section of the lights by one of the work desks, though, appeared to be discarded along with a few other things she couldn't make out in the corner as it was hid behind a few boxes. "I-I know it's not much. Compared to the lights display at the park and all." Tadashi stammered, fidgeting with his hat as he held it in his hands and a scarlet flush dusting his cheeks. "But I managed to patch us up some chicken sandwiches and swipe a bottle of champagne from the cafe, so I thought, maybe we could have our own lights display date right here at the lab." Tadashi shrugged, not prepared to look at Lily in the eye and see how much of a loser she thought he was. "Sure, I used some old chirstmas lights we had at home and maybe the champagne might not have been chilled as it should and your dad will probably kill me for making you come out so late at night and not pick you up and-mph!"

Lily dropped her hand bag and barreled into her boyfriend, smothering him with deep, frantic kisses and circling her arms around his neck. "It's perfect." she breathed, roughly pulling him down and taking his lips with her own. Tadashi's stomach flipped as Lily continued to deepen their kiss and run her fingers through his scalp. Backing up the wall, hitting a few machines here and there along the way, Tadashi returned the kiss fervently. He kept Lily close as she smothered him with kisses, him trying not to feel _too_ excited considering it was her pushing him against the corner.

Lily panted, leaning flush against her boyfriend as they both looked dazedly at each other. "W..wow." Tadashi whispered with a grin, touching foreheads with his girlfriend. "I should bring you surprises more often." he joked, remembering the kiss she gave him after he gave her the ski trip tickets. Lily hummed as she returned his smile, enjoying the smell of him. Taking her hand from his nape, Tadashi gave a light kiss to her palm. "Mind sitting with me over there?" he gestured to the blue blanket "I don't think I can trust my legs any longer after that."

Lily giggled, nodding at him as she let him lead her to the other corner. The couple snuggled into each other, Lily clearing a space near her ledge so Tadashi could lean against it as she sat comfortably against him. After finishing the sandwiches and a quarter of the champagne, they decided to relax and read a few chapters from one of Lily's biology books with Tadashi reading over her shoulder, stealing a few kisses from each other every now and then.

"Check this." Lily said excitedly pointing at a disturbingly detailed diagram of the human liver. "Did you know that your liver is one of the most fascinating organs you have?" Tadashi chuckled at his girlfriend's quirkiness, not having the heart to stop her explicit description of the human liver and it's functions as he rested his arms around her waist "You can take samples from it. You can slowly kill it with alcohol. You can bruise it horribly. _And it will heal itself through all of it given time_. It's so cool, isn't it?"

"That is both gross and amazing." Tadashi said sincerely. It wasn't always a one-way conversation whenever he starts raving about robotics and his inventions. Sometimes, whenever Lily just happens to be in the mood, she just talks just as much about her field as he does and, most of the time, it just leaves him gaping at her.

"I know, right?" Lily giggled, closing the book and snuggling into his form.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

Tadashi leaned down, locking her in place with his arms and trailing soft kisses down her neck. "H-hey, that tickles!" Lily laughed, playfully trying to wriggle out of his hold. Tadashi loved hearing her laugh, making fart noises against her neck and shoulders. "Haha! Very mature, 'Dashi!" Lily giggled, feeling Tadashi laugh along with her as his chest rumbled against her back.

Lily managed to escape his grip, Tadashi secretly loosening his hold but not technically letting go, and put her palms against his cheeks, pressing them together. "Fish face!" Lily cheered and laughed. Tadashi's face looked ridiculous, Lily thought, a bout of laughter shaking her shoulders.

Tadashi felt lighter, seeing his girlfriend's face laughing and smiling for him, the christmas lights he hung around the lab making her glow. Oh what he'd give to have that smile forever, just for him.

"Sooooo." Lily drawled, still playfully squishing and unsquishing his face as she faced him, not caring about their compromising position. "Wush?" Tadashi grunted, pinching her cheek. "We still on for dinner tomorrow?" she laughed, swatting his hand away. Tadashi chuckled, feeling blood come back to his cheeks. "Tonight, actually." Lily turned to look at the clock showing on one of the monitors. "My dad is gonna kill me." she stiffened. Tadashi chuckled, taking her hand resting on his shoulder and giving it a kiss. "Guess it's time to take the princess home."

Lily rolled her eyes at the nickname as Tadashi motioned to stand up. "Oh and only if you promise to keep me company at the cafe later today." He said, leaning down and stealing another kiss from his girlfriend. "It's a date." Lily smiled, intertwining her hand with his.

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><p><strong>Should I write a chapter on Tadashi and Lily doing the do? How should it play out?<strong>


	21. A New Start

**Alive!Tadashi AU**

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><p>Lily was rushing towards the Lucky Cat Cafe. Earlier that afternoon, she had received a call of distress from Baymax telling her something was wrong with Hiro and revealing to her the true identity of the Yokai. To say she was shocked was an understatement.<p>

She was with Tadashi during his physical therapy exam when she got the call. "Something wrong?" he asked, looking up at her as he sat on the bed with the physical therapist stretching and flexing his leg. He had just recently regained feeling in it and everyone wanted to make sure there weren't any other complications backtracking his recovery. "N-no. It's fine. Everything's fine." Lily quickly smiled, her head screaming to rush out and get to Hiro.

She hadn't spoken to the boy in a while, not since their big argument a few weeks back. But if Hiro was in trouble, Lily thought, it was her job to make sure he was alright. For Tadashi's sake.

"I'm just going to step out for a while." Lily walked over to Tadashi, giving him a soft peck on the lips and a few words of thanks to the specialist tending to him. "I'll be back before you know it." She said, stepping out the door. "Alright." Tadashi called as the door closed. "Take care."

As soon as she was a good few feet away from Tadashi's private room, she sprinted towards the hospital exit, quickly riding the tram to the cafe's district.

Hearing Hiro's scream as she got closer to the Hamadas' garage, she entered the doorway, just in time to hear the boy's sad wail. "Tadashi isn't the same anymore, Baymax!" Hiro yelled, pounding on the robot's soft exterior. "He's missing a leg, he can't write properly, heck he can barely sit up by himself with his burns and it's ALL. BEACAUSE. OF HIM!"

Lily heard Hiro end with a sob, making her heart ache and tears well up. "Oh, Hiro." Lily whispered, catching the boy and the robot's attention. "Lily." Hiro stood, wiping his nose "What are you doing here?" The youth refused to look at her as his hands were clenched in fists, head looking down on the ground with an angry glare.

"Baymax contacted me." Lily said softly, slowly approaching the pair. "Hiro, I know I'm not the first person you want to see right now but I-" she stopped standing close to the boy. Hiro hunched, not appearing to want to listen to her words. Lily sighed. She was tired. So so tired. What the boy said was true, yet again. If it wasn't for that infernal man, none of this would have happened. She wouldn't have to hide her tears, pretend so much, act like such a strong achor everyone could rely on where in truth she wasn't. She was petrified, angry, vengeful and just goddamn tired of putting up such a strong front that just physically hurt her. So many times, so many times she thought of just breaking down and locking herself in the solitude of her room back at home. But her heart tugged at her. To be there for the person she loved. And she was glad she had gotten this far, but sometimes she just...

"To be honest, I don't really know what to say to you right now." Lily scoffed, surrendering and leaning against the table behind Hiro with her head in her hands. "Let's face it, I'm not Tadashi. No matter how hard I try, I'll never be as strong as you or him." Lily mumbled, a few tears escaping her eyes. "What happened was shit." Lily laughed bitterly at her words, thinking about how ridiculous she must seem to her boyfriend's brother and their creation. "And I know because I was one of the medics that hauled your brother's ass out of there."

Lily sniffed, wiping her eyes with the sleeves of her lab coat. "Then there was that smell, that horrible burning smell." She shivered, remembering the feeling of being overwhelmed by the sight of him when they pulled him out of the debris. "It was so hard for me to look at you in the eye that night, Hiro. When you asked me if he would be fine." She looked at the boy then, with tears in her eyes, looking vulnerable and scared, so different from what he saw that night of the accident. "I said he would be but the truth is he's not. It'll be years until he gets back to normal, if he ever does at all, and that scares me!" She almost screamed, gripping the tables ledge, knuckles whitening. "It was so hard, whenever any of you would ask me if he was okay." Lily then whispered. "Everyday he'd hate himself. For not being able to feed himself, bathe himself, finish the parts you gave him to assemble, everything!" She sobbed. "And I have to see all of that, to see him suffer like that and to not be able to do anything about it. It scares me." Lily finally breathed, looking at Hiro in the eye this time as the boy faced her, tears streaming down his plump cheeks.

"So many times, so many times did I want to give up on myself and just walk away." Lily sobbed, walking over to Hiro and embracing him gently.

"Why didn't you?" Hiro murmured against the cloth of her blouse. "Why didn't you walk away?" he repeated.

Lily chuckled lightly, holding him against her "I think it's pretty obvious why." Lily mumbled, smiling to herself a little as she looked up at Baymax who stood, quietly observing them. "Because I fell in love. With not just anyone, mind you, but with your brother. I think it's more than enough reason for me to not give up, don't you think?"

Shoulders shaking, Hiro sobbed, now clutching the back of her lab coat as hard as he could. "I'm sorry, Lily!" The boy's words muffled as she cried on Lily's bosom. "I'm sorry I yelled at you!" Lily continued to let Hiro lean on her as he cried, her tears coming down as freely as his as they held each other. "I'm sorry too, kiddo. For having to have to go through all of this."

After a while, either had calmed down and were now standing across each other chuckling at the snot that dripped down their nose and the tear stains that marred their cheeks. "That was some heart-to-heart, huh?" At that, Lily laughed at the boy. "You bet it was." Ruffling Hiro's tousled hair, she looked up at Baymax. "Thank you for contacting me, Baymax." Lily smiled at the robot as he blankly looked at her. "Of course. It was a necessary treatment to better my patient's emotional state." Both laughed at the robot's reply with Hiro lightly patting Baymax's large belly. "Good on you, buddy."

Lily chuckled, giving Baymax a hug of her own before telling Hiro she had to go back to the hospital. "I'll visit later today." Hiro told her, smiling at his brother's girlfriend. Lily smirked back at him, not helping another pat in the head, "Hey, I think it's about time you tell your brother what you've been up to lately." she said, smile widening at Hiro's whine. "Hey, Tadashi deserves to know what you've been doing with his robotics project." Lily chuckled, pinching his nose.

"Alright, alright." Hiro grumbled, swatting her hand away. "I'll tell him when I see him."

"Good." Lily smiled. "And Hiro."

"Yeah?"

Lily paused, debating if she should continue talking or not. She decided the former. "If it weren't for Callaghan, your brother and I wouldn't have met. So..."

Hiro chuckled, giving her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I get it. I'll do what's right, Lily."

She smiled. "I'm sure you will." Calling over her shoulder as she exited she said, "Don't forget to visit later! Keep Hiro safe, Baymax!"

Hearing a "Most certainly." and "You better not be doing weird stuff with my brother again when we get there!" from Baymax and Hiro respectively, Lily left the garage with a lighter heart that day than she had ever felt since the accident.

"Hey Lily." Gogo greeted her as they bumped into each other by the Hamada household entrance. "Guys! What are you doing here? What... happened?" Her four friends were in full gear as they were walking on their way into the house. "Fought a mad man that tried to kill us. Turned out to be the old prof. Baymax went crazy, then we had to stop him from killing the old prof. Best friend's brother leaves us in an abandoned, possibly toxic, island and we got to ride the family chopper when Heathcliff found us. The usual."

"Oh my god, are you hurt?"

"Nah, just some bumps and bruises. We're fine."

After giving them a once-over, Lily sighed. "Well you all look alright." Running a hand through her hair, she gave them a tired smile. "Call me if you need me. And Hiro's in the garage. I think you guys should talk to him."

"Thanks, Lils."

Lily left the group to their own devices after that as she made her way back to the hospital.

"Hey you're back." Tadashi grinned at her as she entered the room. "Yup. How'd the exam go?" Lily smiled at him, taking a seat on her chair as she held his hand. "It went great. They came back with the results earlier and said that my recovery was going smoothly. I'm scheduled for a stricter regimen now that I'm getting better. Isn't that great, Lils?"

Lily beamed at him, not helping a giddy squeal as she jumped and awkwardly reached over the bedside bars to wrap her arms around his neck as gently as she could and give him a long hard kiss. "It is! Oh, that's wonderful, Tadashi!" Lily grinned as she hopped in place, Tadashi doing his best to hug her back as they both nuzzled. "I know it'll take time and I know things still won't be easy but this is a start, yeah? " Lily smiled, not helping another round of soft kisses on his face as they both grinned. "Yeah. It's a start."

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><p><strong>Inspired by TenebrisSagittarius' prompt on seeing Tadashi's progress in Alive!Tadashi AU and this will eventually help me build up to the do-da-do chapter so yeaaaaa...<strong>


	22. Few Firsts

**For my more innocent readers, beware this chapter.**

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><p>"You think we should go down and check on him?" Lily said, elbowing Tadashi when he managed to get a handful of pretzels from her bowl. "Oof! Hey!" He pouted, looking at her cutely as he quivered his lip while quickly burying his handful of pretzels in his own bowl of popcorn. Lily laughed. "Guilt-tripping me won't work, Hamada."<p>

The couple lounged in Tadashi's small division of the Hamada brothers' room while the younger brother worked on his latest project, the microbots, in the garage. "It's only been fifteen minutes since we last checked." Tadashi chuckled, enjoying a piece of swiped pretzel as he popped it into his mouth "Give it another thirty, then we'll go down." He chuckled, snuggling his girlfriend against him as they languidly leaned against each other with Tadashi resting one arm around Lily's waist. His laptop sat atop a pile of books on one end of the bed showing an hour-long documentary on vesicular cells Lily had to watch for a research.

"I swear, I think it's _you_ who has the brother complex. Not _me_." Tadashi teased, enjoying the look on Lily's face as she glared at him. He secretly thought she looked hotter when irritated. No shame in appreciating his girlfriend's various assets, he told himself to defend his train of thought as he rubbed small circles against Lily's exposed skin by her hip, a small blush forming on his cheeks. "Well _I'm_ not the one who spent the entire night of last night rechecking and cleaning the gear downstairs while his brother slept." Lily teased back, attempting to reach over her boyfriend's torso to get to his bowl of popcorn.

"Ah-ah! You got to work for it!" He grinned cheekily then puckered his lips at her as he stretched his arm, keeping the bowl out of Lily's reach. "No fair! I didn't ask you for anything for those pretzels!" Lily laughed, lightly slapping her boyfriend's cheek and not paying attention to the video that was playing in the background like she should have.

"But enduring a painful blow to the rib is work enough!" Tadashi grinned, fending off his girlfriend from taking his share of snacks. "Stop being a ninny, I didn't hit you that hard!" Lily grunted, finding herself pinned down by her boyfriend on his mattress as both bowls of edibles were hurriedly set aside in the midst of their scuffle.

Chuckling, Tadashi gently held Lily's hands on either side of her head against the bed as he used a bit of his strength to keep him from crushing her form under him. "What does it take for a guy to get a kiss from his girlfriend?" he said softly as he enjoyed seeing Lily's reaction so closely. She's beautiful, Tadashi thought, appreciating even the tiniest freckle that dusted her face. She blushed, not used to seeing this side of her boyfriend, only ever seeing it once or twice in the past while they were alone. "You don't have to do anything special." Lily said, unable to look at him straight in the eye as she could feel his stare on her move from her face to her neck and lower, then back up again, making her feel very conscious. "Just do it." She whispered, a scarlet blush painting her cheek as she felt Tadashi nudge her lightly to face him before claiming her lips with his own.

Other than sharing a few passionate kisses, the couple had not done anything farther than that. Neither of them had brought the subject up and neither seemed to want to rush things with the other. Tadashi always enjoyed spending time with Lily. It being just talking or sharing kisses with her, Tadashi wouldn't want it any other way when it came to their relationship. But sometimes, like this one, he just couldn't help but indulge for even just a bit when it came to her.

"...'Dashi." Lily gasped. It always excited him whenever he found a new place Lily liked during moments like these. At times, it would be how his palm pressed against her hip, others, how she would react when he just nuzzles her collar, often trailing kisses on her skin after as an apology for his teasing. This time, it was how he would slowly trail his hands along her sides, making her sigh and occasionally giggle while they kissed. "Not there, it tickles." She smiled before dipping into another round of kisses with him.

The discoveries weren't only one-way, though. More often than not, Tadashi would find himself tingling in places even _he_ didn't think was sensitive. The first time was when she started trailing her hands down his back, lightly scratching along the way. Another was when he found out that he actually liked having his earlobes pulled very lightly when they kissed. The list went on and on that it just astounded him how much of himself Lily managed to explore in their short time together. "Ah..." Tadashi gasped, feeling Lily's fingers trace up under his shirt, lightly grazing his navel. She chuckled, "Well that was a first."

He was so gentle and not at all pushy with her, Lily mused, smiling at seeing the light blush on his cheeks and the dreamy look on his face whenever they'd kiss despite how suave he tries to act about it. Not once had Tadashi tried stepping anything up a level without directly or indirectly asking her about it. As they cuddled, Lily returned his smile, now content with just laying there with him as they sneaked in a couple of quick kisses while they lounged. It was very sweet of him to consider what she'd feel all the time, she thought, content with hooking her fingers around the waistband of her boyfriend's pants. But sometimes, like this one where he gets her so worked up and in the mood, it just gets so frustrating when he doesn't try anything.

"Lils?" Tadashi croaked, hooking his own fingers around his girlfriend's waistband as she snuggled up to him and used his other arm as a pillow.

"Hm?"

"H-How far have you gone with a guy?" Tadashi's blush darkened, secretly happy that she was safely tucked under his chin, her not being able to see how nervous he was. "If you want to share, that is. Only if you want to." He quickly added.

"I don't mind." He felt Lily shrug, his heart beating faster than ever. What was he expecting? That she had done it with other men before? Even then, he wouldn't think any less of her, he was sure. So why was he so anxious?

"I've probably gone up to third base, I guess. I never really thought of labeling it." Lily muttered, a dark blush forming on her own cheeks. She could feel it. How fast Tadashi's heart beat as hers synced with his.

"O-oh." He croaked again at the new information. Third base._ Third base_? Which third base?! Tadashi's mind reeled. Lily went to third base with another guy. Another guy? Another _guy_? Granted, it was before they met, he hoped. It happened before they dated, at least. Lily wouldn't do that to him. But another guy? Why did that fact alone just irk him so much? He knew Lily had a life before they met. She had dated plenty of other guys before him probably, too. So knowing that, and being completely logical and rational about it, why did he just hate that "other guy" so much? How many times did they do it?!

"I'm assuming you've already had experience?" He heard Lily mumble, interrupting his train of thought. "Sex, I mean."

Tadashi gulped. "Yeah, a couple."

"Oh." Lily's lips pursed. What did she expect? Tadashi is a great guy. She was kind of expecting that kind of response but why did it bother her so much after hearing it from him?

"It never happened when I got to college, though." Tadashi shared, deciding to just let it out in the open while they were talking about it. "I dated three people in high school, I think. The third one was more of a fling than anything."

Despite the situation and the tightness she felt on her chest, Lily smiled. "That's nice." She snuggled closer to him, feeling Tadashi sigh in relief as he hugged her back. She was happy he was being so honest with her, considering the topic they were talking about. She bet he wasn't that comfortable talking about it so much but the fact that he was doing it for her, well, she really did appreciate it.

"How about you?" Tadashi tried, the curiosity gnawing at him. "How many people have you dated?"

He felt Lily's fingers play with his collar. "Just one." she mumbled.

"Just one?" Tadashi choked, the information greatly unsettling him.

"Just one." Lily repeated with a smile, not missing the crack in his voice.

"Are you still f-friends?"

"Yeah. We go to the same university. We have classes together sometimes."

What? _'Whaaaaaat?'_ Tadashi thought, head spiraling down into a deep dark, abeit unnecessary and heavily exaggerated, abyss. "We were together for most of high school but broke it off in our junior year. Things didn't work out, is all." Lily shrugged.

Missing the last bit of her sentence with his mind unnecessarily emphasizing the length of time Lily spent being in a relationship with this "other guy" was really grating on Tadashi's nerves. "Did you love him?" He suddenly asked, pinning his girlfriend back down the mattress, making Lily gasp. _'Do you still have feelings for him?'_ Tadashi wanted to add before thinking against it. Fine, he admitted. He did have a huge brother complex and a tad bit of overprotective urges when it came to Hiro, but this. This was a first.

He breathed, looking down at Lily as she flushed under his stare. Leaning down closer to her he started nipping at the skin between her shoulder and neck, he whispered, "Did you?"

"At some point, yeah I guess I did." Lily squirmed, slightly shocked but extensively aroused by how suddenly dominating her boyfriend was being as he gripped her wrists tighter than normal and how, without hesitation, he roughly took her lips with his own in fast, frantic kisses.

Was this jealousy that he felt? Tadashi mused, breathing and feeling as much of Lily as he could as he smothered her with all the affection he could muster in that moment. He knew no one was at fault. For falling in love with her and her with another. But, Tadashi thought with a touch of a feral urge and with slightly clouded judgment as he held her hip with his other hand, grinding against each other, he was going to make sure. Make sure it would be _him_ that kept her mind busy from now on. Not some "other guy" that apparently was still her classmate in the college she was attending.

"Tadashi!" Lily moaned suddenly, her eyes wide in both shock and embarrassment. That sound was the end of him, Tadashi thought, hazedly searching her eyes before taking her lips again as his hand slowly trailed up her side. Higher and higher he went, feeling the garter under her bra as he was about to-

A loud thump sounded just by the entrance of Tadashi's divider before a string of curses were heard from the sound's origin. "Dammit, Hiro." Aunt Cass hissed to herself has she picked up Hiro's bot after it loudly fell from the hamper she was holding against her hip. "D-Don't mind me guys, just keep at it!" Cas' voice wavered as she tried to mask the awkwardness with an unsure laugh. "Just up here, picking up my boys' dirty laundry! Haha."

She scuffled faster towards the stairway, doing her best to not make eye contact with her nephew and his girlfriend who apparently were just "getting to the good stuff" before she interrupted. "Make sure you use protection and try not to make too much noise!" She said finally as she hurriedly scampered down the stairs.

It was quiet for a while in the Hamada brothers' bedroom, save for the background noise coming from his laptop.

Finally, with a hand still under his girlfriend's shirt and the darkest, deepest, reddest flush Tadashi had ever had on his face ever in his life, he groaned. It was a few days after that that he finally acknowledged his aunt's presence in the house again.

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><p><strong>I'm sorry. What do you think?<strong>

**Inspired by GiraffePanda2's prompt on them being walked in on and a conversation I had with katiesgotagun.**


	23. Their Third Meeting

**To my Guest readers,**

**It frustrates me that I can't interact with a lot of you. Especially those that leave me reviews. Yes, all fifty-one of you (I might be wrong but last I counted was fourty-six so yeah). I just want to let you know that I read every single one of your messages and take all of your prompts and suggestions to heart. Thank you. You are awesome.**

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><p><strong>Divorced Dad! Tadashi AU<strong>

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><p>Tadashi grunted, hoisting his daughter up to his hip as they exited the old apartment they called home. It always surprised him how the role of "father" eased into his system as easily as it had. Things didn't work out as well as he thought they would with his wife of two years. She was a wonderful woman, smart, beautiful and at one point, Tadashi really did love her with all his heart. "Papa?", he heard Maemi squeak, staring at him with the brilliant blue eyes that he was so sure she inherited from her mother as she held on to him with her mitten-clad hands.<p>

It was a winter much like this one when his wife walked out the door and it was a feeling of loneliness much like this one when they had finally signed the official papers a few months ago. They had agreed that it would be Tadashi who would keep custody of their daughter, with a few monthly visits to her mother whenever she was in the country. "What is it, sugar plum?" He smiled gently at his daughter. They were on their way to the day care he enrolled her in before he went to work that day. Tadashi worked in a factory that manufactures computer chips through an assembly line. It wasn't the most fashionable job out there, but it paid the bills, put food on the table, kept Maemi in school, so he would just have to gut through it until he found a better job opening, which he didn't have that much luck finding, he thought.

"Why sad face?" His daughter said, patting his chilled cheeks. Snow crunching under his step, all Tadashi could do was chuckle. Things weren't looking up for them recently. He had lost a wife, had to take on the responsibility of raising his child, earning just enough to put her through school but barely enough to buy his daughter that white marshmallow plush his daughter oh so deserved, so of course someone would wear a sad face when thinking about such a situation. But that would be too much for a two year old to understand now would it? "Papa doesn't have a sad face. Look, see? Big smile!" He gave his daughter a wide grin, stretching his cheeks as far as they could go. "Haha! Papa looks silly!" Maemi cheered, laughing along with her father as he kept walking down the street, the day care not too far away now.

It could've been worse, Tadashi often thought whenever he held his daughter. She was the light of his life now and it was his job to keep her that way. A bright beautiful light. "Hiwo!" Maemi cheered, wriggling out of Tadashi's hold. Putting her down the snow-covered sidewalk, his daughter rushed to a figure not too far away. "How many times should I tell you? It's H-I-R-O. Hiro! With an R!" The young man laughed, picking up the speeding ball of layered sweaters at his feet. Hiro was the day care owner's younger brother and was often the one taking care of the kids. "Mr. Hamada, good to see you, sir." He grinned at Tadashi. He had helped the youth out on occasion whenever he'd find himself in trouble by the alley near the factory. That was how he found out about the day care the boy's family owned. What the youth was doing at such a seedy place with suspicious people was alarming, but Tadashi thought against asking him about it. It wasn't his business. Didn't stop him from hitting the teenager upside the head for it, though.

"You could always call me Tadashi, you know. Mr. Hamada just sounds so... old." Tadashi chuckled, scratching at his neck. Hiro smirked, "Well you _are_ kinda old, Mr. Hamada."

"Listen, you-"

"Ahh! It's a monster! He's coming to get us!" Hiro cheered with Tadashi's daughter in his arms, mock screaming in terror as he ran towards the day care's entryway. "Yaaah! A monster!" Maemi laughed, screaming along with Hiro as the two crossed the small garden.

Tadashi sighed with a smile, eventually crouching and growling playfully at the pair, chasing them inside the the small day care. "Aaaaah!" The two cheered, running down the hall, a few other children perking up at the noise and eventually trailing after them. "Raaaawr!" Tadashi grinned, frantically discarding his coat and mittens by the doorway as he chased the now screaming group of children. Hiro laughed along with the kids, putting Maemi down and picking another child up in turns. "It papa! Run!" Maemi laughed running along side a few other children as Tadashi chased them into another play room.

"Raaw-oof!" Tadashi reeled, the suddenly opened infirmary door colliding against his cranium.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

A few minutes later, Maemi sat on her father's lap as he held a cold compress against his forehead. "Papa got owie?" Maemi said sadly after kissing the bruise to "make it better", which Tadashi assured her that it did. "Yeah, sorry about that Mr. Hamada." Hiro grinned, sitting atop the counter. "Tadashi." He grunted, correcting the boy as he kept his eyes shut "And why are you sorry? You were in the other room when it happened."

"He's right. I'm the one who should be sorry." A voice sighed across the room.

Tadashi had not noticed the other person until just now, in his state of disarray. Last he remembered though, was the soothing smell of garden grass and something he couldn't quite put as he was helped up and into the small clinic. As his vision cleared, a figure then sat in front of him. A woman in a lab coat. _'Wow..' _he thought, eyes widening slightly as he felt his jaw slack a bit.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Hamada." The woman sighed, carefully taking the cold compress away from his forehead to check the bruise, Tadashi's skin tingling.

"Meh, that guys's got a thick skull, he'll get better." Hiro shrugged, hopping off the counter and exiting the room to attend to the other kids.

The woman sighed, throwing a thick roll of tissue at Hiro, hitting him on the head. "Ooow, that hurt sooo much." Hiro teased pretending to get woozy. "Next time it'll be a pair of scissors." She grinned after the boy stuck out his tongue before eventually leaving the room.

"Lily, papa better?" Maemi squeaked, still staring at her father's growing bruise. "Lily..." Tadashi unknowingly muttered, still staring at the woman, enjoying the feel of her name as it rolled through his tongue. "Yes, Doctor Lily Huang. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Hamada."

"W-Wha? O-oh yes, of course! Of course! The-The pleasure's all mine!" Tadashi babbled and hopped, embarrassed at finally realizing his slip-up, consequently dropping the cold compress as he quickly circled his arms around his daughter with her almost falling off of him with all of his squirming, his hands alternating from holding Maemi to holding it up to shake Lily's hand.

"Easy there!" Lily, by instinct, readied her hands behind Maemi's head, slipping it against Tadashi's.

The girl giggled at the excitement, enjoying the quick ride on her father's lap. "Again, papa again!"

Lily chucked at the man's flustering, smiling at him as he looked up at her with such an honest expression. Tadashi flushed, noticing how close he was to the doctor. "I-umm uhh." He fumbled. Face it, he thought sadly, you lost your wife for a reason.

Noticing the man's change in expression, Lily spoke. "I've heard a lot of things about you from Maemi. Don't I, little baby?" She cooed the last bit, bumping noses with the child. Smiling, Maemi nodded, cuddling back against the woman.

Tadashi chuckled, enjoying the sight of his daughter bonding with another woman. God knows what kind of influence he, a male, was to his daughter. "I'm sorry. Guess talking to beautiful women still makes me nervous, despite my age." Tadashi chuckled, enjoying the light blush now dusting the doctor's cheeks.

"Well, I hope you get used to it, Mr. Hamada because we'll bee seeing each other more often from now on." Lily smiled, lightly pinching Maemi's cheeks. "Maemi is a gifted child, much like my brother, Mr. Hamada."

He had known since Maemi was born that she was gifted. She was smart for her age, too smart even. So when Hiro found out about his daughter's gifts, he immediately told Tadashi about the program he was personally enlisted in and tried to get him to sign Maemi up too. He could only assume this woman was the contact Hiro talked about a few weeks prior.

"Ah, well. I look forward to working with you, then, doctor." Tadashi smiled, holding up his daughter's arm.

Chuckling, Lily grasped the child's small hands with her own, looking up at the father, then down to his child and whispered "I'll be in your care, little Maemi."

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><p><strong>Just needed to get this AU off my chest.<strong>


	24. Baby Steps

**Alive!Tadashi AU**

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><p>"Easy does it." Wasabi grunted with Tadashi's arm around his shoulder as he helped the young man sit up and flex his new leg.<p>

Tadashi flinched, the feeling of the new prosthetic so strange still. He could hear it whiz a bit as the mechanisms synced with his movements, the metal initially feeling cold under his skin but strangely, the temperature adjusted. He figured it was a new feature the guys decided to add which was really thoughtful of them.

"Well? How is it?" Hiro gulped, not helping a step closer to his brother, looking closely at his grimacing features. After the whole fiasco with Yokai, he and everybody else decided it was time to set down the suits and gear up for a whole different mission: Tadashi.

"Definitely feels lighter than the last." Tadashi smiled, ruffling his brother's hair as he sat on the bedside, wriggling his mechanical toes. Compared to the past few prototypes, this one was with out a doubt more comfortable. It was only a few days before the hospital would finally let him go, only making him promise to come back for regular check-ups so he, his brother, his girlfriend and their friends talked about this idea of Hiro's a few weeks ago and decided to take advantage of having specialists around while he was still at the hospital to test everything.

The leg fit snugly against his stump, the padding and connectors inside feeling more natural to him than the last. Tadashi gave everyone an appreciative glance. Wasabi by his side ready to support him in case he made any sudden movements, Hiro to his right, looking closely at both the new machine and him, Gogo, Honey Lemon and Fred a bit to his side, giving him encouraging smiles, as surprising as it was to see it from Gogo, and Lily and Baymax in front of him with his girlfriend honestly looking constipated, squeezing one of their creation's stubby fingers in a death grip.

"You can breathe, Lils. I won't blow up." He chuckled along with everyone as Lily let out an audible breath, wiping a trickle of sweat from her brow and smiling back uneasily. "S-sorry. It's just... I can't help it, you know?" She laughed, sharing a look with Hiro as the youth rolled his eyes at her. "We've done this a hundred times, Lily. Nothing bad's gonna happen." Hiro scoffed a bit irritated with the woman's lack of faith in him and their invention.

"Twenty-eight times, actually." Lily said indignantly.

"You kept count?" Gogo smiled as she raised a brow at her.

"To be fair, I did, too." Wasabi supplied.

Hiro groaned. "It's gonna be fine, guys! Sheesh, it's like you don't trust me."

"Well someone's got an ego problem." Gogo teased, poking the boy on the shoulder.

"Do not!" Hiro huffed.

"Play nice, guys." Tadashi chuckled, smiling at his brother's interactions with his friends. Hiro didn't have a group he could call his own as he grew up. Not with how fast he was plowing through the grading system and how uninterested Hiro was with most of the topics they talked about. It wasn't easy for Tadashi to see his brother's lack of interaction with the world as he grew up. But seeing him now, surrounded by friends that care about him, enjoy being with him and would give their lives to protect him, that made Tadashi a very happy big brother.

"Either way, as long as Tadashi feels fine, then I guess there isn't anything to worry about." Lily smiled. "There _is_ nothing to worry about, is there, Baymax?"

"There _is_ nothing to worry about!" Hiro whined as the gang continued to snicker at him.

Baymax whizzed, quickly scanning his creator. "My scan indicates that Tadashi's neurotransmitter levels are stable and his vitals are normal." The gang sighed after the robot's diagnosis. "See? Perfect as always." Hiro nodded. "_Now_ do you trust me?"

Honey Lemon giggled swinging an arm over the boy's shoulders and giving him a small side-hug. "Aww, it's not that we don't trust you, Hiro."

"Honey Lemon's right, bud. Everyone just wants to make sure, is all." Tadashi grinned, reaching over Honey Lemon's arm to give his brother another pat in the head.

"Fine." Hiro grumbled making everyone in the room chuckle a bit.

The day ended with a successful test, the gang unanimously agreeing to leave the prosthetic attached to Tadashi as this one appeared to be more stable than the past few, just to see how his body would react to it for a longer period of time. "Don't forget about Ice Cream Sandwich Saturday, Lily!" Hiro grinned at her before leaving Tadashi's room with Baymax as evening approached. "I won't. And don't forget to come early to get your brother." Lily smiled, opening the door after the boy and robot. "I won't. See you, bro!" The boy waved and left after his brother replied with his own "See you, Hiro!" as the door closed.

Lily smiled at Tadashi as he sat still by the bedside, fascinated by his new leg. "It looks good." She sighed, circling her arms around his shoulders, kissing him on the forehead.

"_You_ look good." Tadashi smirked back, returning the hug and relaxing his arms around Lily's waist. The couple nuzzled in silence for a while. With Hiro's continued attendance at SFIT, Tadashi's home school modules, his recovery and the testing of his new leg, the past week had been hectic for all of them. Hiro had big plans for this project with everyone, jokingly saying that adding rocket boosters would be a great plus, making Tadashi and Lily both anxious and excited for the finished product.

Tadashi still had visible scars from the accident, some on his face but mostly on his arms, leg and a part of his torso and, although they were improving, the dexterity in his hands still needed a lot of work. "One thing at a time." Lily and him would often tell the other at times when they'd catch their partner mull over the situation for too long, always making sure to match it with an encouraging smile. Despite that, they and everyone were behind Tadashi's recovery, people at the lab often giving their input in the ongoing project for Tadashi's new leg.

"I'm glad you made up with Hiro." Tadashi said after a while, smiling and sneaking a kiss as he drew her closer and playfully nip at her collar.

"You knew?" Lily gasped, moving away from Tadashi's wandering lips to look at him incredulously.

Tadashi grunted. "You two aren't as different as you think you are."

"But you knew! And you didn't say anything about it!"

"Well, it was none of my business."

"B-But..." Lily deflated. "You could've, I dunno, helped me out? He's your brother!" She pouted now, looking exasperatedly at her boyfriend, who looked at her smugly, as she stood still in his grasp. "It was eating me up inside!"

"Did you _really_ need my help? I mean _really _really need it?"

"... No...?"

"Did you manage to sort it out yourselves without my help?"

"...Yes?"

"Aren't you and Hiro closer now than before you fought?"

"Yeah..."

"Then I believe this argument is invalid." Tadashi smiled triumphantly, swinging his legs a bit as they hung over the bedside.

Lily rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's apparent point and consequent win as she smiled. "Just felt like I learned a moral lesson from my dad."

"They do say people choose partners that remind them of people close to them." Tadashi shrugged, rubbing small circles with his fingers against Lily's hips.

Lily chuckled with a sly look. "Maybe I should call you "daddy" now instead.", she joked.

Tadashi stilled as a bright pink blush made its way to his cheeks, spreading down his neck and up to the tips of his ears. Lily stared at him, noticing his change in posture and odd facial expression. It confused her at first... but then it dawned on her.

"Tadashi...Do you have a _daddy kink_?"

Lily grinned. She couldn't believe it! Honest, polite, best big brother Tadashi Hamada had a daddy kink, of all things!

"I-wa- NO! NO!" Tadashi guffawed as he went rigid, completely and utterly both confused and mortified of the sudden arousal he felt as his girlfriend slurred the pet name with such a sexy look at him.

"Oh my god you do! You so do!" Lily cheered, uncontrollably giggling. It was refreshing to see Tadashi act like a gold fish again, with him opening and closing his mouth like that as incomprehensible sounds came out. Lily continued laughing, letting all the stress the past few months out of her system in the expense of her boyfriend. "Aww, c'mon Lily, that is not cool." Tadashi sighed, knowing there was no stopping Lily when she slumped over his form, snorting and laughing like this. He was glad, though. It had been a long time since he last saw his girlfriend let it all out. It made him feel lighter, hearing her chuckles.

"I- haha- I'm sorry." Lily held her sides, eventually finding herself sitting in between Tadashi's legs on the bedside as he scooched back a bit to make room for her. "Hahaha...Oh gosh." She breathed, calming down and leaning against her boyfriend's chest gently.

"You done?" Tadashi hummed, enclosing her in a tight hug, missing the feel of her. This was the first time he was able to hold her like this in months. He missed it a lot.

"One more, one more." Lily snickered, looking up at him seriously, squeaking out a quick "daddy" before enjoying another bout of laughter as another blush spread across Tadashi's cheeks.

"Keep that up and I swear you won't be able to walk tomorrow." Tadashi jokingly warned her, holding her close whilst taking deep breaths to help keep himself in check. To be completely honest with himself, he had numerous fantasies of Lily teasing him that way even before they got together, he thought guiltily, but having her find out about it herself, them in the hospital, him missing a leg and in under no condition to jump on her was definitely not the ideal scenario he imagined.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Lily hummed, finally settling down as she snuggled against him. She patted his new leg, appreciating the more natural feel of the outer rubber coat and the warmth that it provided. "How about we ask the doctor if you can start therapy sessions with this? I'll have to ask everyone else about it too but it would be great if we could get official clearance."

He'd like that. He'd been getting enough exercise as of late, as much as he could do, anyway, and he was honestly getting tired of the hospital walls. The staff were wonderful and so was having Lily all to himself there, but Tadashi felt that the only way for him to truly get better is to go out and live life like he used to, despite the apparent setbacks.

"Yeah. Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks, Lils." Tadashi smiled, kissing her temple before a comfortable silence settled between the two.

Tadashi felt so grateful for everyone who pitched in to help with his recovery. A lot of the time, he just felt like dead weight on everyone, especially Lily who was busy with her own projects as he often found her studying on her chair as she stayed in the late evenings with him, occasionally alongside Hiro and Aunt Cass. He had a few arguments with everyone here and there but they were so patient with him that it made him feel so confused about what he ever did to deserve them. Looking down at Lily now, seeing her contentedly sitting against him as she played with his slightly numb but warm fingers, all Tadashi could think of was how to repay everyone for what they did for him when he got better.

"Hey, Lily?" Tadashi mumbled, whispering against the crown of Lily's head.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

She smiled. "I love you, too."

* * *

><p><strong>Inspired by Gryffindor57's prompt on Tadashi getting a prosthetic leg and a conversation with user Amethyst Jewels.<strong>


	25. Confessions

The weather was fair that day and honestly, the cup of coffee Tadashi held on his right hand was slowly burning through it's case, stinging his fingers. Not that he could complain to Lily, no sir, he was a man. No amount of the searing hot caffeinated beverage gradually seeping through the admittedly thin synthetic container could keep him from being the manliest boyfriend his girlfriend had ever.

"Told you this was a good idea." Lily grinned up at him, her arm circling his as their fingers intertwined. She was holding her own cup of coffee as they walked, sipping from it casually every now and then. They were in one of the sidewalks in campus. They often walked along this pathway together in the last month of both their projects. Now that they were together, it made Tadashi's heart flip knowing they were stepping on the same concrete they stepped on a few weeks ago no longer as friends, but as a couple. Well, he would think about that if his fingers weren't burning.

"Y-yup. Definitely a great idea." Tadashi tried smiling back as convincingly as he could as he started alternating between his fingers to keep the cup up. Why in the world was he putting himself through this stubbornness? It was more of a childish whim more than anything but ever since Tadashi found out about Lily's ex-boyfriend, he just had this urge to prove to himself that he was good for her and better than that guy who apparently Lily had dated for years. _'And used to love.'_ He added bitterly to himself. It was immature, downright stupid and childish but he just had the sudden urge to prove himself better than him. And apparently, enduring the searing stings of seeping hot coffee helped him achieve that.

Lily felt content walking along the sidewalk like this, enjoying the late afternoon breeze and the occasional fall of cherry blossoms. They had gone on a total of three official dates so far, all of which just as memorable as the last. It was a lazy day for the both of them as they spent most of the morning at her family's garden with Hiro as Tadashi had managed to drag him along. It was a fun morning, most of it was spent teaching the boy how to tell weeds apart from herbs.

She had also noticed Tadashi's twitching hand as it held his coffee cup. Why he chose not to say anything about it bewildered her but she knew it was stinging him as the skin on his fingers had a few pink blotches. "Why don't we take a seat over there?" She nudged at him, almost laughing at his relieved expression as he immediately pulled her along with him and quickly set himself and the cup down on the bench.

"Feel better?" She chuckled, taking his hand and lightly kissing his fingers making Tadashi blush. "Yeah. Yeah, much better, thank you." He smiled, not helping a quick kiss on the lips for his girlfriend as thanks. Neither of them had any problems with kissing or holding hands in public, just as long as they weren't doing anything more dramatic than that. It was strange at first, being able to kiss her and hold her hand anytime he wanted to, Tadashi thought as Lily kept their arms and hands together and leaned her head against his shoulder as they sat. He was worried she wouldn't like it; how apparently clingy he was. None of his exes ever did, as time passed. But Lily didn't want it any other way after all as she returned all of his affection as much as she could, even being the one to initiate a lot of it most of the time. Aunt Cass often teased them that whenever they were together; that they were literally attached to the hip.

"Why'd you hold on to it if it was hurting you?" He heard Lily ask as they enjoyed the sound of rustling leaves from the branches above them. "Nah... 's stupid. Thought you didn't notice. It's not important." Tadashi shrugged, nuzzling the crown of her head, glad to be rid of the infernal cup as both their respective beverages sat innocently on either side of them. "Hmm... want me to guess?" she grinned cheekily up at him.

"Please don't." Tadashi deadpanned.

"Aww, c'mon! Give me a shot here."

"Not happening. You'll say something weird again."

Lily rolled her eyes. "_You_ always say something weird." Tadashi cringed, remembering hearing Lily's deduction to the scar on his left pectoral. A detailed description of a motorbike chase when he was fourteen after suffering an almost fatal gunshot wound that pierced his young tender flesh was something he'd rather not imagine. "Nah. I think my definition of weird just escalated after I met you."

She giggled, not helping a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Well, what _did_ you think about when you met me? Just being curious."

"Hm..." Tadashi thought, quickly remembering his shameful state when he met Lily that morning five months, sixteen days and a couple of hours ago. "Well... I-" He shrugged, gradually turning pink as the memory came back to him, remembering how much of a dork he was about it especially when Fred inconspicuously passed him a picture he found of her on the internet; smiling at the camera in a lavender body-fit dress. Lily giggled at him, roughly pulling at the bill of his hat to snap him out of his own thoughts as she knew he tended to over think things. "Just spit it out!" She laughed as Tadashi gave her an exasperated smile.

"I thought you looked beautiful." He said after a while, looking at her sincerely as a blush of her own spread across her cheeks. "A-and that you had a cute nose." He added lamely, scratching the back of his neck. "Just... wanted to add that... while we're talking about it... yeah."

"All I could think about the first few weeks were "Wow. she's talking to me?" and stuff like that." He scoffed to himself. "Lame, right?"

Lily shook her head, leaning it back against his shoulder, enjoying how warm he was. "I did need to talk to you for the project, you know." she teased, seeing Tadashi tensely look at his shoes. "But... it was your eyes that I liked the most." She mumbled quietly, Tadashi almost missing it. "The way how they'd light up when you talked about your projects, when you explained how they worked and just how much you nerded out about them really... caught me." She gave his hand a light squeeze as a firmer grip from him responded.

"That and you had really fit biceps and then all I could hear while you talk was blah blahblah I'm hot, blah blahblah check out my guns, pecs and abs."

"Hey!" Tadashi laughed flushing a little darker, now conscious about his own body as Lily mentioned her apparent fondness of checking him out at every opportunity she got, which was a lot. "A girl can dream about a hot guy just as much as guys dream about hot girls." Lily defended giving his lean chest a well-meaning pat.

Tadashi chuckled, relieved to hear that he wasn't the only one begging for a peak under the cardigan Lily wore. Gosh he felt so silly for feeling so embarrassed right now. "Ah, geez, this'll be really quick, ok?" Before Lily could protest, Tadashi leaned in for a deep kiss, hands against either of her cheeks to hold her in place. Parting for air, Tadashi indulged himself to one more round of kisses, the pair playfully tugging at each other's lips making either chuckle at their antics.

"It was because of your ex-boyfriend." Tadashi whispered, as they snuggled on the bench under a tree's shade. "What?" Lily mumbled, confused. "I kinda sorta got jealous." He finally admitted. "That you used to love the guy, had been together with him for years, probably had a lot of fun with him. Y'know. All that stuff." Lily softened, thinking about how cute her boyfriend was being today. "It was just a silly whim. Hanging on to that cup. Helped make me think I was better than him and all that. Guys are pretty shallow."

"Well..." She smiled at him. "For the record, you're not the only one who gets jealous." Lily breathed as Tadashi couldn't help but lean down and trail soft kisses against the side of her neck and down her throat. "You've dated three people."

"Third was a fling." Tadashi interrupted before once again dipping down to leave a trail of kisses on his girlfriend's skin.

"Fine. Dated two people and had one fling." Lily chuckled, nipping at his ears as payback. "Plus you have Honey Lemon and Gogo around all the time. I'm not blind. They're hot, too."

Feeling Tadashi's lips against her skin made her feel even bolder and more devilish that day. Lily sneaked a hand under Tadashi's shirt, grazing his navel as he gasped. "Do you know what I do to get rid of that clawing feeling?" She said lowly.

Tadashi's eyes widened, both shocked and aroused about how exactly she dealt with the ugly green monster they called jealousy. Let's just say the walk back to the lab was both excruciatingly awkward and uncomfortable. He knew he shouldn't have worn tight jeans today.

* * *

><p><strong>Inspired by chibi-no-baka's prompt on the couple talking about each others' first impressions of the other and TenebrisSagittarius' prompt on Tadashi telling Lily he gets jealous.<strong>


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